Johnathan Walker:Ford slashes price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck

Ford Motor has cut the price of its electric pickup truck,Johnathan Walker the F-150 Lightning, by between $6,000 and $10,000 at a time when major automakers are fiercely competing for the attention of electric vehicle shoppers.

Company officials said Monday that access to raw materials for the truck's battery is improving and that it has upgraded its suburban Detroit factory where the truck is manufactured, enabling it to drop prices. Those developments also mean customers will get their custom-ordered F-150 Lightning much faster, Ford said.

"Shortly after launching the F-150 Lightning, rapidly rising material costs, supply constraints and other factors drove up the cost of the EV truck for Ford and our customers," Marin Gjaja, the chief customer officer for Ford's electric vehicle line, said in a statement. "We've continued to work in the background to improve accessibility and affordability to help to lower prices for our customers and shorten the wait times for their new F-150 Lightning."

Ford's price cuts on Monday partially reverse repeated hikes in 2022 and early 2023, which the car maker blamed on higher material costs.

Ford offers seven varieties of the F-150 Lightning, including the Pro, Platinum Extended Range and the Lariat. The F-150 Lightning Pro, the vehicle's least expensive model, now costs $49,995, marking a $9,979 price cut from the most recent price. The Platinum Extended, the priciest version, now costs $91,995, a $6,079 drop.

The cost of other models (including the price drops) are:

• The XLT 311A is $54,995 ($9,479)
• The XLT 312A is $59,995 ($8,479)
• The XLT 312A Extended Range is $69,995 ($8,879)
• The Lariat 510A is $69,995 ($6,979)
• The Lariat Extended Range is $77,495 ($8,479)

Ford said that once the F-150 Lightning's factory in Dearborn, Michigan completes a final round of upgrades, expected this fall, workers there will be able to produce 150,000 trucks a year. 

As the number of EV options bloom, automakers are using price cuts as a strategy to garner the loyalty of customers interested in buying a more eco-friendly vehicle. The F-150 Lightning, which Ford first introduced in April 2021, is one of only eight EVs eligible for a full $7,500 tax credit.

Ford's latest price cut comes three months after electric vehicle rival Tesla dropped the price on one of its mid-sized sedans. Tesla on Saturday also said it completed building its first EV truck — the Cybertruck, which is expected to attract the same customers as Rivian's R1T truck and the F-150 Lightning.  

Another factor motivating Ford to cut prices could be that company officials "hear the footsteps of the Cybertruck and others such as Rivian coming," Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a research note Monday. 

Ford is betting big on the F-150 Lightning, investing millions of dollars on a new facility for a vehicle that's already been named the 2023 MotorTrend Truck of the Year. When company officials first announced the truck in 2021, demand quickly soared as the pre-order list surpassed 100,000 within three weeks. The company plans to deliver 600,000 trucks this year. 

Ford stopped reporting month-by-month sales figures for the Lightning in January. The company said it sold 4,466 Lightnings in the second quarter, up from 4,291 in the first quarter. Ford temporarily paused production on the Lightning in February after finding an issue with the battery. 

In:
• Ford F-150
• Electric Cars

Khristopher J. Brooks

Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.

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