Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn today announced plans to nearly double production of the F-150 Lightning pickup at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to 150,000 trucks per year to meet demand for the first all-electric version of America’s best-selling vehicle, the F-Series.
On Thursday, the first group of reservation holders will be invited to place their orders for the F-150 Lightning.
As part of the rollout, Ford is implementing a wave-by-wave reservation process, with reservation holders being asked to watch for an invitation via email or to log into their Ford.com account over the next few months.
Those who don’t receive invitations to convert for the 2022 model year will have an opportunity to order a future model year vehicle.
To streamline deliveries, a small task force of Ford employees from manufacturing, purchasing, strategy, product development, and capacity planning are finding ways to quickly adapt and expand production of the Lightning.
In addition, the automaker is working with key suppliers as well as with its own manufacturing facilities Rawsonville Components Plant and Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center to find ways to increase capacity of electric vehicle parts, including battery cells, battery trays, and electric drive systems.
“With nearly 200,000 reservations, our teams are working hard and creatively to break production constraints to get more F-150 Lightning trucks into the hands of our customers,” says Kumar Galhotra, president of the Americas and International Markets Group at Ford.
This week marks the final pre-build phase before accelerating into mass production of F-150 Lightning trucks for retail customers and F-150 Lightning Pro for commercial customers. The production-level trucks will be used for testing in real-world customer conditions, collectively accumulating 1 million miles.
According to Ford, the Lightning is drawing interest from customers of competitor brands at a record rate in North America, with more than 75 percent of reservation holders new to the Ford brand. Production of the 2022 F-150 Lightning pickup will begin this spring at a starting MSRP of $39,974 before potential federal tax incentives.
Overall, Ford states it is investing more than $30 billion in electric vehicles through 2025. Over the next two years, Ford seeks to emerge as the No. 2 electric vehicle maker in North America and then challenge the No. 1 spot as huge investments in battery and electric vehicle manufacturing come onstream.
Within 24 months, Ford will have the global capacity to produce 600,000 battery electric vehicles annually.
In addition to scaling Lightning production, Ford recently announced the tripling of production for the Mustang Mach-E and expects to reach 200,000-plus units per year by 2023. What’s more, Ford’s all-electric van, the 2022 E-Transit, goes on sale early this year.
To reach its production goals, Ford announced late last year it is building the largest, most advanced, most efficient auto production facility in its 118-year history in Tennessee, where it will assemble next-generation F-Series electric pickups. Together with SK Innovation, Ford is also building three new BlueOval SK battery plants — one in Tennessee and two in Kentucky — to produce advanced lithium-ion batteries to power next-generation Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
This $11.4 billion investment will create nearly 11,000 new jobs at BlueOval City and BlueOvalSK Battery Park in Tennessee and Kentucky.
To learn more about the all-electric 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning truck, click here.
