After just eight months of open reservations on the Ford website, the company has officially closed out their $100 non-binding reservation deposit on the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck as it begins to ready the ordering process.
While this is certainly exciting news, it seems it’s not without some drawbacks, as CEO Jim Farley told CNBC that the company has nearly 200,000 retail reservations for the F-150 Lightning. In addition, the Lightning isn’t the only electric vehicle in Ford’s lineup that is extremely popular, as the Mustang Mach-E has a demand that is almost double the company’s production rate. As a result, Ford aims to increase their EVs production rate to 600,000 units by 2023.
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Ford F-150 Lightning Production Rate Set To Increase
Ford Motor Company initially planned to build 15,000 units within the first year of Ford F-150 Lightning production, which begins in spring 2022. Within the following year, production would ramp up to 55,000. By 2024, production would eventually increase to 80,000 units, double the initial target of 40,000. However, assuming that the 200,000 reservations turn into actual orders and with the help of some math, it doesn’t take much to figure that Ford has over three years of production already spoken for.
The automaker is already working on alleviating the logjam.
To compensate for the high demand, Ford plans on fast-tracking production up to 80,000 within the Lightning’s second year, according to Ford Spokesperson Dawn McKenzie. But even then, they still will be backed up for a bit. Of course, not all the reservation holders will follow through with their orders, which means those that do may be lucky enough to get the new truck before 2025, when the second generation of the F-150 Lightning is expected to debut.
Image Copyright Steven Pham, Muscle Cars & Trucks.
