Ford has had a huge dominance amongst the Electric Vehicles industry. Their EV products are selling way better than GM EVs, and the Mustang Mach-E. Now with the 2022 release of the F-150 Lightning, it will be even more of an EV sale edge. Earlier this week, Ford announced they are behind schedule due to the global semiconductor shortage, but that has not stopped consumers to show massive interest. Reservations closed for the Lightning on December 11, 2021 at midnight because the interest was higher than anticipated. Customers can expect deliveries to start by springtime. According to Ford CEO Jim Farley, 70 percent of F-150 Lightning customers are new to the Ford brand.
As of today, there are around 200,000 potential customers (me being one of them!), but sales and reservations are two different things. According to Farley, Ford expects around 80 percent of those reservations to convert into sales, a highly impressive number, especially seeing as most (around 112,000 vehicles) of those sales will be going to first-time Ford owners. Crazy number to me. When the Ford Bronco was launched, it was a reservation to sales of over 65%. The Bronco had more hype prior to its launch than the Lightning, but the Lightning will attract a different crowd which will be drawn to the utility and value of the electric F-150, rather than the lifestyle appeal of the Bronco.
The F-150 EV is going to be a huge contender in the EV pickup industry. The top-of-the-range Platinum model will pack 563 horsepower and 775 lb-ft of torque thanks to its dual motors, and a maximum range of 300 miles is expected. With the 150-kWh DC fast charger, the Lightning will be able to charge from 15 to 80 percent in 40 minutes. The base truck is priced at $39,974 before state and federal tax credits, and range-topping model will cost closer to $90,000. Plus there has been talk about the Lightning actually powering a home if main power goes out. Not sure the overall truth to this. It is interesting to see how electrification is attracting entirely new group of the car-buying market to the Ford brand. I am one that will a first time F-150 owner. My truck of choice has always been Chevy or GMC. Really looking forward to start putting together the form and upgrades on January 20th, 2022. This the date Ford expects to release the option upgrade to the 200k customers with a reservation.
