Ford is slashing prices for F-150 Lightning electric pickups by as much as 17%, bowing to the laws of supply and demand in the U.S. electric vehicle market.
The starting “suggested retail price” for the Lightning Pro model, aimed at business customers, will fall nearly 17%, or $9,979, to $49,995. The least expensive consumer model, the XLT 311 A, will drop by $9,479, or 15%, to $54,995. On top of that, customers can get another $1,000 off by ordering their truck online by the end of this month for delivery in October.
Ford announced the price cuts just two days after Tesla declared it had built the first production version of its long-delayed Cybertruck at the GigaTexas assembly complex in Austin. (More on that below.)
But Tesla’s Job One party likely had little direct impact on Ford’s decision to walk back price increases taken earlier this year when semiconductor shortages and other production bottlenecks kept Lightning supplies tight.
A more relevant fact is that Ford plans to triple Lightning production to a 150,000-vehicle a year pace by the end of this year. Expanding inventories of unsold Lightnings threatened those plans. Cutting prices was an obvious lever to pull – even if investors were selling on the news Monday morning.
Ford is not alone. Led by Tesla’s price-chopping, prices for new EVs in the United States are down 20% from a year ago, according to KBB.com (more on that below.)
“The upgrades at the plant, combined with improving battery raw material costs and continued work on scaling production and cost, help make it possible to lower pricing across the F-150 Lightning line,” Ford said in a statement Monday.
The Ford price drops are less generous for extended range Lightnings, reflecting the desirability of more drive-time and the higher cost for larger batteries. The base price of the Lariat extended range will fall $8,879, or 11%, to $69,995.
Worth noting: All Lightnings but the very top of the line Platinum Extended Range model will now start below $80,000 – the maximum price eligible for $7,500 federal EV tax credits.
(Will GM drop prices on its electric Silverado and Sierra trucks? A great question for GM executives when they discuss Q2 results July 25.)
Also of note: Ford is joining Tesla in bringing airline-style dynamic pricing to the U.S. auto market. Automakers used to avoid base price cuts, using discount deals and cut-rate financing to adjust prices to ebbs and flows of demand.
Tesla, which sells cars directly to consumers, uses its access to real-time shopping and ordering data to adjust online “sticker” prices on an almost weekly basis.
This will be challenging for consumers. Ford will adjust prices for Lightning customers whose trucks are on order, but not for those who took delivery at the old, higher prices.
Dynamic pricing will also put pressure on auto company employees and suppliers, who will have to redouble efforts to cut production costs to play this game profitably.
