Ford Slashes Electric F-150 Lightning Price By Up to 17%, Signaling Dire Concerns Over the Future of Its EV

Ford recently attracted unusual attention after deciding to slash the price of the electric version of the best-selling vehicle in the US — the F-150 Lightning pickup truck.

The company reduced the truck’s price by 17% in order to become more attractive to buyers than its competitors, including General Motors and Tesla.

However, the move also reflected negatively on the company’s share price as it signaled issues with manufacturing costs, sales numbers, and the future of Ford EVs in general.

Ford Motor’s Most Popular EV Pickup Sees a $10k Price Cut

The EV in question, F-150 Lightning Pro, is the cheapest version of the electric truck that the company offers. It is aimed at commercial buyers, and after the price slash, the truck is only worth $49,995.

Reducing the price by 17% means that the truck is now $10,000 cheaper. However, it is still around $10,000 higher than its original price from April 2022, when it cost $39,974.

Another low-price model that is available in a similar price range is XLT. This model’s price was also reduced by around $10,000 and now sits at $54,995.

The price cuts came on July 17th, reversing roughly half of the price hikes that Ford implemented last year. At the time, the company’s CEO, Jim Farley, boasted that Ford was increasing prices while Tesla was reducing them.

Now, after the price slashes, Ford released a statement that addressed the situation, pointing out several factors that led to the decision. Its Chief Customer Officer, Marin Gjaja, 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. 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 is Trying to Stay Competitive

Recent reports also suggest that Ford’s actions were partially aimed at allowing the company to get ahead of GM, which started building an electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup earlier in 2023.

At the same time, Tesla revealed its first Cybertruck this weekend, and Ford likely felt that it had to react quickly to keep the attention of the buyers.

The competition among carmakers is rising strongly, and companies are already announcing future developments.

Stellantis NV, for example, already announced its intention to start building its electric Ram pickup — the Revolution — in 2024.

In light of all of these developments, Ford’s Martin Gunsberg said that the EV market is changing rapidly, and the company has to adapt to remain competitive.

Ford Suffers a 5.5% Drop in Share Value

Investors did not react positively to the sudden price cuts. The move caused Ford’s share price to drop, sending them down by 5.5%. The shareholders were seemingly concerned about the cuts and how they might affect the firm’s profits.

Morningstar Inc.’s analyst, David Whiston, said that the market was freaking out as this seems like Ford is chasing Tesla, especially since the company just unveiled its Cybertruck.

However, Ford doesn’t seem to be concerned about the price cuts, even stating that it can afford to reduce the prices more due to low battery costs and economies of scale.

Whiston believes this is a common tactic of boosting the price and coming down as they got more scale.

It is something that Tesla itself did quite often in the past, and at the time, the market loved the move. He sees it as unfair for the market to praise Tesla for doing something like that but to punish Ford for the same move.

Furthermore, Ford is now offering a special deal to F-150 Lightning buyers. It offers to reduce another $1,000 if shoppers configure their trucks online.

In addition to that, it will provide cut-race financing of 1.9% for 36 months to any buyer that qualifies.

Ford’s Price Cuts are a Reaction to Changes in Material Price

The price cuts have a curious timing, given that they came immediately after Tesla’s new model came out. However, Ford claims that this is just a natural price movement.

Last year, it increased the price due to the rise in material costs and supply shortages. This year, the situation is better, so the prices are dropping, as well.

Despite this, the skepticism on Wall Street remains strong, which Whiston also noted.

However, he added that Ford’s plan hinges on margins improving as they achieve scale, and to do that, the company needs volume, which requires it to sell EVs at a lower price than $70k-$98k per vehicle.

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