April 26 was marked in red for many. This Tuesday will go down in history as the day the Ford F-150 Lightning started production.. The first electric pick-up of the oval brand has begun its life cycle. The first units have already rolled off the assembly line and many more are expected to follow. Ford has very tight deadlines to meet and many reserves to fill.
A few days ago, the Americans told us about the importance of last Tuesday. After passing through the New York Auto Show, the Ford F-150 Lightning is already being mass-produced. Until now, Ford had done no more than a handful of units to adjust the assembly processes, line and sequence. Rouge Electric’s renovated Michigan facility will have the honor of manufacturing the electric pick-up exclusively.
That puts an important burden on the factory workers. Ford closed the order books months ago in the face of the barrage of reservations. It is estimated that more than 200,000 customers requested a unit. Such has been the hysteria to take over the services of the electric van that many dealers, in a maneuver of dubious ethics, began to speculate on the prices of the first units, awarding them to the highest bidder.
And it is that those from Michigan are going to go the next few years with water up to their necks. Earlier this year it was officially announced that Ford had been forced to double the production rate of the F-150 Lightning in response to high demand. Detroit managers had calculated to produce about 15,000 units throughout this year, to increase production to 55,000 and 80,000 units in the next courses. That would mean that all the units for the next three years would already be awarded.
Ford can’t afford that luxury, so plans have had to be doubled to at least reduce waiting times for eager customers. Clients who have disbursed various amounts of money. The Ford F-150 Lightning has a starting price of $39,974 in its access format, designed primarily for professional use and with average performance. The most complete and portentous model has a starting cost of 90,874 dollarswith its 131 kWh capacity battery and its approved autonomy of 482 kilometers.
Right now the F-150 Lightning is the brightest star in the little starry sky of electric pick-ups, where it only has the enemy presence of the Rivian R1T. For many months RJ Scaringe’s company has had no rival, but now a very important one has just emerged. In the future there will be more similar units such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV and, above all, the Tesla Cybertruck that should start its production stage over the next year.
