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sotek2345

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Hello! Just wanted to jump in very quickly. I work at a dealership and order nearly all of our retail units (that would be a one on one build with a customer, not stock which ends up on lots). I've been following this and other forums for some time and just would like to chime in briefly. On all factory orders you should always expect a long wait even under normal circumstances on a vehicle Ford builds constantly.

While it is fun to speculate where you might fall I strongly urge you to be ready for shockingly long waits. Parts are king when it comes to production and since it takes years to plan for commodity purchasing if the orders don't come in right on the head with Ford's estimates (i'm talking mix of standard vs large batteries, Platinum vs Pro etc) then even an early reservation holder (in regards to time places) can be kicked far back if they pick excessively high demand items. I'm super excited to start ordering Lightnings for our guests but definitely not looking forward to how much I'll have to realign customer expectations.

My advise in a nutshell, set yourself up to be pleasantly surprised and not constantly bummed.
Given that, do you expect a large number of current reservation holders to be bumped completely out of this generation of Lightning (and into the planned 2025 refresh)? In other words, is the Gen 1 electric lightning already sold out?
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I doubt the new factory is the limit, production constraints are all about the batteries. Ford should have no problems building every truck they can get batteries for, but they need the cells and they are hard to find anywhere in the world. Global production capacity just isn't there and new battery factories can only be built so fast.
Batteries are definitely the battleground. Carmakers want to make their own, battery makers want to leapfrog each other with technology. Nobody wants to start with a 2021 technology and deliver a vehicle in 2025 that's obsolescent. So they have a two-pronged approach:
1) complain to government to get tax dollars for raw materials and manufacturing (part of this campaign is to complain about supply shortages and production constraints) with the rationale (coercion) of saying prices go up if supply can meet demand and unemployment goes up if there's a limit on production capacity.
2) design with "modular, scalable" components to be able to swap out the battery, battery controller and charging without retooling.

The carmakers also need two faces: one smiles at the investors and says they'll build a million, the other tries to deceive competitors with misleading messages of what they're doing and when it will be done. This is more difficult in the auto industry, which tends to leak like sieve.
 

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Given that, do you expect a large number of current reservation holders to be bumped completely out of this generation of Lightning (and into the planned 2025 refresh)? In other words, is the Gen 1 electric lightning already sold out?
The new Lightning won't be a refresh. It will launch on an all new platform. 2026 model launching in 2025 calendar year.
 

sotek2345

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The new Lightning won't be a refresh. It will launch on an all new platform. 2026 model launching in 2025 calendar year.
I still have the same question - do we think current (or near term future) reservation holders will be pushed out that far (high conversion rate and Ford coming in lower than projected for annual production)
 

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Given that, do you expect a large number of current reservation holders to be bumped completely out of this generation of Lightning (and into the planned 2025 refresh)? In other words, is the Gen 1 electric lightning already sold out?
It's hard to say but If you are a current reservation holder my hunch is not likely. Nationwide Bronco had about 60% of reservations actually convert to orders. I assume Lightning will be a smaller percentage than that but could be wrong. We tried guessing how many reservations our dealership would get the night of the reveal and they came in way above our guesses. some of the current unknown in terms of reservations is how many hand raisers are there in the commercial realm, how many demo units (if any, though they have done them for Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Mach-E) will be built, and will there be stock units (personal guess is they will try to avoid that)? Ford does not count commercial hand raisers as reservation holders and I haven't found a report as to how many there are.
 

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I still have the same question - do we think current (or near term future) reservation holders will be pushed out that far (high conversion rate and Ford coming in lower than projected for annual production)
Probably not. If you go by the numbers in the article I linked, it would be 15k next year, 55k for 2023 and 80k every year after that. That's 150k for the first 3 years.

2022 15k
2023 55k
2024 80k
2025 80k

230k total.
 
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10830xxx and I clicked on the button within milliseconds to get the order in … : |
I am at 10830xxx as well but I did it at the end of presentation with some delays. If you did it when it opened, then the server theory is correct and our numbers are not that meaningful. But according to ford, all of us in that day are within the first 20K so if 70% go through with the order 14,000 should cover everyone that made reservation in the first 12 hours. of course there are all kinds of unforseen complications that may result in Ford not producing that 15,000 in 2022. Let's hope that is not the case.
 

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Probably not. If you go by the numbers in the article I linked, it would be 15k next year, 55k for 2023 and 80k every year after that. That's 150k for the first 3 years.

2022 15k
2023 55k
2024 80k
2025 80k

330k total.
230k total, not 330k right? Also these are targets and Ford may not be able to hit them.

We also don't know about commercial orders yet. If they are of the same magnitude as retail, and there is a high conversion rate that could be ~200k lightnings already spoken for. That is very close to 230k production target.
 

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230k total, not 330k right? Also these are targets and Ford may not be able to hit them.

We also don't know about commercial orders yet. If they are of the same magnitude as retail, and there is a high conversion rate that could be ~200k lightnings already spoken for. That is very close to 230k production target.
Whoops. Carried a one I shouldn't have. :)
 

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I am at 10830xxx as well but I did it at the end of presentation with some delays. If you did it when it opened, then the server theory is correct and our numbers are not that meaningful. But according to ford, all of us in that day are within the first 20K so if 70% go through with the order 14,000 should cover everyone that made reservation in the first 12 hours. of course there are all kinds of unforseen complications that may result in Ford not producing that 15,000 in 2022. Let's hope that is not the case.
I'm with your optimism, but in marketing, at least if I applied enterprise technology marketing principles to the auto industry, what I see them doing is calc'ing all factors into a number that the board approves. That number includes what @Pioneer74 tells us:
I work at DTP. The plant was only set up to run 12 jobs per hour. They are trying to get it to 14. We already run 7 days a week. 3 crews max production is around 87k a year, with no down weeks.

We would be able to run Super Weekends to get more production, but you have to shut down sooner or later for maintenance.
This results in a formula to guesstimate based on what's happened with other vehicles, the rate of attrition (reservations that don't turn into orders) and production planning (supply side logistics) with no idea of what happens if a disease sweeps through the factory or slows the economy, etc. So I wouldn't hold anyone to those numbers; I'm just pleased to see decent sized numbers and a realistic 2023-2025 time frame.
If the F-150 Lightning team get lucky and find themselves with the wind in their favor and able to play their A game, they'll want to exceed those numbers, exceed in quality and get five star reviews in the initial ownership experience (especially road trip charging) so that word of mouth is the same excitement that Tesla used to create despite poor quality and falling short of production goals … : )
 

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So if these production numbers are true then we can basically assume the 7500 EV credit will be exhausted for anyone that is not in the first batch of 15,000 delivery? I am a little bummed that I reserve a couple of days after the reveal...
 

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So if these production numbers are true then we can basically assume the 7500 EV credit will be exhausted for anyone that is not in the first batch of 15,000 delivery? I am a little bummed that I reserve a couple of days after the reveal...
That's what I'm thinking. I reserved on the 26th, one week after reveal, and I'm thinking if everybody in front of me doesn't cancel their reservation, I'll be lucky to get mine in middle to late 2023.

Between the Ecape plug in hybrid, Lightning, Transit EV and Mach-E the remaining credits will go fast
 

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That's what I'm thinking. I reserved on the 26th, one week after reveal, and I'm thinking if everybody in front of me doesn't cancel their reservation, I'll be lucky to get mine in middle to late 2023.

Between the Ecape plug in hybrid, Lightning, Transit EV and Mach-E the remaining credits will go fast
Thats assuming the credit doesn't get expanded and/or extended. There's lots of signs it will be...
 

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Thats assuming the credit doesn't get expanded and/or extended. There's lots of signs it will be...
With this political climate, I'm not taking anything into consideration until something is signed. Too many people with too many angles on both sides of the isle.
 

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I doubt everyone who wants one will get one but I think at least the first 20,000 reservation holders will. I know you are intentionally being over-optimistic but I did get my Mach E at 0.9% for 48 months and X-plan pricing.
Yes there was a “hint” of sarcasm in there. Haha
They’ve already stated a new platform coming for the truck in a few years so leasing is probably the way to go?
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