TheVerge: ‘I’m out’: Ford’s F-150 Lightning price hikes are costing it customers

[swajames]

I think we all agree Ford messed this up and should never have promised a 40K truck where they knew from day one they would lose money on every Pro sale at that price. But with that said, the article doesn't have it right IMO. It's not costing Ford customers when a customer who would only by a Pro if it were still 40K cancels an order, it's getting them out of an unprofitable sale. And some people at least did get a Pro at the launch price. We're already seeing that's not going to happen with the Silverado EV and others.

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[intensifi]

Besides the price hikes, the other reasons I walked from my order:

1) Ford would not honor the price from my reservation date. They did for my '22 Mach E GT which rolled into '23! Why not the Lightning? Semantics about a reservation versus an order are BS. I paid money to Ford for the reservation. If I had been asked for $500 for the reservation way back when, I would have paid.

2a) Ford removed features supposedly due to a parts shortage. Buuuuutttt my '23 MachE and all other MachEs since '22 and '23 have been built with the heated steering wheels and interior alarms. Why could't the Lightning have these features as well? Really - why not?

2b) Ford has been basically silent about the ability to add features back to the late '22s AND '23s. Were we supposed to just say "Thank you sir, I'll have another!". I was born at night but not last night!

3) Ford announced the '25s were going to be the "best truck ever!" and cheaper! Why the hell would I OR ANYONE ELSE buy a '23 - '24 with that announcement? Nobody NEEDS a Lightning at this point. We are still in the early adopter WANT stage!

4) The 400 and 450 mile range trucks were/are within sight. Why sign up for longer time duration road trips and having to potentially be screwed by charging station mishaps / crowding out in the middle of no where? On top of that - and I am sad to mention this to all Lightning owners - the '22-'24 (if there even is a '24) Lightning resale values are going to dive when these longer range trucks ship in appreciable volume. We are already seeing $10K and $11K off of MSRP discounts on new Lightnings from dealers in the FB Lightning classifieds group. My local MSRP++ dealer calls me every other week asking me to make on offer on the '23 Lariat ER he has sitting on the lot!

5) Vehicle 2 Home (V2H) is a major selling point for the Lightnings. Yet working with Sunrun is a @#$% show. Not only is the Chinese made part ridiculously expensive, if you have another vendor's solar gear, it's a non-starter. I am anxiously awaiting EnPhase's V2H solution based on a new IEEE standard for V2H. My hope is that Ford provides a software update to the existing Lightnings to work with the new IEEE standard.

Rant over. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

[rdr854]

$40k was what brought me in too. Then $40k became $58k for the base model and I decided to spend $82k on a Lariat ER and have it right away.

The original $39,999 was truly a bait and switch. If you got one, that's awesome-- but they never intended to stick to that obviously temporary price.

Apparently, Chevrolet is no better with the Silverado EV. It too was supposed to start at $40K and won’t. And, I understand that the base work truck is fleet only - meaning us retail folks will be stuck with the more expensive versions.

 

[Peddyr]

Is there an EV manufacturer that actually delivered a vehicle at a price they previously promised?

 

[ivan256]

I would have been out at 2023 pricing too, and feel lucky to have found a 2022 at sticker. But it's hard to say that pricing is costing them customers when the product is sold out.

When they start building up on dealer lots, they will lower the price.

 

[ivan256]

3) Ford announced the '25s were going to be the "best truck ever!" and cheaper! Why the hell would I OR ANYONE ELSE buy a '23 - '24 with that announcement? Nobody NEEDS a Lightning at this point. We are still in the early adopter WANT stage!

Because they're lying about the next gen trucks.

All the manufacturers are in a race to see who can build the equivalent of the K-car platform, but for EVs. These early ones are the ones that are a little exciting, and interesting, and differentiated. Next the market is going to go through a dull phase where everything affordable is going to be re-paneled and re-badged clones of the same OK stuff.

... which is actually good, because they need to sell a lot of 'appliance' vehicles. But is that not what a lot of people are looking for in a truck. The first gen Lightning and RAM and Rivian are probably going to be the only real electric pickup trucks for a while - until they start electrifying the Super Duty.

 

[Bills R Electric]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/27/23771407/ford-f150-lightning-price-increase-cancel-order-dealer

I love my Lightning Lariat ER as my daily driver, but it was that $40k price point that got me to the table in the first place.

I purchased my Lightning Lariat from a rural Ford dealer (took delivery in April)....after waiting for what seemed forever. When I picked up my Lariat, there was a Red Standard Range Lightning also on the lot. When I asked about it, they said the buyer cancelled.

2 months later and it was still on their lot.

Price is a significant issue. There are only so many people that can or will pay what it costs to buy a Ford Lightning, or a Rivian, or a soon to be released Silverado EV.

And a $40,000 EV pickup is now a fantasy. The Chevy Silverado WT EV is $77,000 and up.
Rivian is finding fewer buyers, and is moving production to their SUV R1S.
Ford will find a lot of resistance going forward for $70,000+ and up EVs.

The bottom line is the batteries are super expensive. And will be for at least 5 more years.

Don't know how this will shake out but in 2025 there will be a lot of EV pickups on the market. Will there be enough buyers?

 

[jdmackes]

I disagree. The Pro never should have been priced at $40k. It should have started at $50k to begin with, and ended up where it's at now because of inflation. At the time, you couldn't even build a gas truck comparable to it for $40k.

I guess, but I don't necessarily think that they were going to lose a ton of money on them back when they were originally announced at that price. It was before everything blew up inflation wise and a ton of the parts are the same between the ICE and EV versions. As I remember when I was looking, you could build an ICE for slightly less than the EV Pro, but with the $7500 tax credit it made it nearly the same price or slightly cheaper for the EV version.

 

[Bills R Electric]

Apparently, Chevrolet is no better with the Silverado EV. It too was supposed to start at $40K and won’t. And, I understand that the base work truck is fleet only - meaning us retail folks will be stuck with the more expensive versions.

The Silverado EV WT version apparently starts at $77,000.

There will be NO $40,000 electric pickup anymore. And there will never be one going forward. Anyone that got an early Lightning Pro made out like a bandit.

 

[spadesaspade]

Cars/Trucks are depreciating assets. I bought one only because I could get pro for the original 40k with the full federal tax rebate when I needed a second car. I got a lot of vehicle for the money I spent at a time when everything was selling for above MSRP, but I would not buy any trim at the current prices. All the best to Chevy to try to sell their WT with plastic interiors for almost 80k.

I will replace my gas car with a used EV that has the 800V architecture in the next 3 years or so. I'm sure with the number of chargers increasing + more & newer EV's with NACS on the road, the current ones prices will tank.

 

[RickLightning]

Besides the price hikes, the other reasons I walked from my order:

1) Ford would not honor the price from my reservation date. They did for my '22 Mach E GT which rolled into '23! Why not the Lightning? Semantics about a reservation versus an order are BS. I paid money to Ford for the reservation. If I had been asked for $500 for the reservation way back when, I would have paid.

2a) Ford removed features supposedly due to a parts shortage. Buuuuutttt my '23 MachE and all other MachEs since '22 and '23 have been built with the heated steering wheels and interior alarms. Why could't the Lightning have these features as well? Really - why not?

2b) Ford has been basically silent about the ability to add features back to the late '22s AND '23s. Were we supposed to just say "Thank you sir, I'll have another!". I was born at night but not last night!

Answers to the best of my ability.

1) Your 22 Mach-E wasn't reserved, it was ORDERED. Ford honored that. Your truck was reserved, i.e. a slot to order. You had no configuration in the system, no price, just a press release. You know that, but it's not semantics. I had the same issue. I bought a 2022 mannequin to get the price under $80k.

2) Mach-E lost features in 2022, and then 2023. Yes, some of the features that the Lightning lost, the Mach-E kept. But, what you're not mentioning or perhaps aware of is that these features were also removed from the ICE F-150s. The answer is VOLUME. There are a lot more F-150s made per month than Mach-Es. So a feature can stay in the Mach-E and not in the F-150s for supply issues.

3) Ford is always silent, but they have clearly stated that SOME features, such as the heated steering wheel, CAN be added back. They have also not provided any path to add back other features. For example, the 2022 Mach-Es came without the kick to open sensor functioning, but for most that's a programming issue only. For others, they could add the sensor back, and program it.

 

[Warp Asylum]

Price was a huge factor in cancelling my 23 order and picking up a very lightly used 22 Lariat ER for a good price.

If the 25s are a significant upgrade then I might consider trading up for one, but if not then I'm happy to stick with the 22.

 

[Pioneer74]

I guess, but I don't necessarily think that they were going to lose a ton of money on them back when they were originally announced at that price. It was before everything blew up inflation wise and a ton of the parts are the same between the ICE and EV versions. As I remember when I was looking, you could build an ICE for slightly less than the EV Pro, but with the $7500 tax credit it made it nearly the same price or slightly cheaper for the EV version.

I don't know what truck you were building, but I don't think you were building a comparable truck. SuperCrew, XL, hybrid 4X4. And you can't even option it like a PRO. This is the price for a comparable XL. No way it jumped $15k since the Pro launched.

 

[jdmackes]

I don't know what truck you were building, but I don't think you were building a comparable truck. SuperCrew, XL, hybrid 4X4. And you can't even option it like a PRO. This is the price for a comparable XL. No way it jumped $15k since the Pro launched.

I'm just going off memory, but as I remember it was pretty close in price, just a little under. Why would it surprise you that it jumped $15k? The pro has jumped $20k and truck prices are completely out of control. Plus, I wasn't looking to match everything that the Pro necessarily had, just trying to get a truck that could pull my boat and do some work like a truck. When I built an XL just now, I got a price of $47k when moving up to 4x4. Don't need the hybrid engine, that's an extra $4.5k. I'm talking about going from base truck to base truck.

 

[Pioneer74]

I'm just going off memory, but as I remember it was pretty close in price, just a little under. Why would it surprise you that it jumped $15k? The pro has jumped $20k and truck prices are completely out of control. Plus, I wasn't looking to match everything that the Pro necessarily had, just trying to get a truck that could pull my boat and do some work like a truck. When I built an XL just now, I got a price of $47k when moving up to 4x4. Don't need the hybrid engine, that's an extra $4.5k. I'm talking about going from base truck to base truck.

You can't just compare a base truck to the Lightning Pro and call it a fair comparison. Even if you don't need all the features on the Lightning, you have to compare it to the closest gas truck that is buildable.

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