Ford Motor Co. took the latest shot Thursday in a high-profile battle that began with a General Motors Super Bowl ad featuring Will Ferrell vowing to “crush” Norway while urging Americans to buy (GM) electric vehicles.
GM spent buckets of money on a “No Way, Norway!” ad campaign urging the U.S. to not let the northern European country outpace the U.S. in electric vehicle (EV) adoption. When GM’s multimillion dollar TV spot aired during the 2021 Super Bowl, crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. got creative and hijacked the spotlight with a twist: Ford showed Norway so much love that Prime Minister Erna Solberg took part in the playful exchange.
Now, two years later, Ford announced it is stepping up its commitment to the nation that borders Sweden and Finland by announcing its “Yes, Norway!” campaign Thursday. Ford Norway begins accepting applications online for the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning from Norwegians immediately with deliveries scheduled for early 2024.
“I’ve had customers literally banging on my door and pleading for us to bring the electric pickup to Norway,” Per Gunnar Berg, managing director, Ford Norway, said in a news release. “F-150 Lightning is the perfect match for many customers in Norway — uniquely capable of quenching our thirst for adventure while embracing our passion for protecting the environment.”
‘Explosion in requests’
This is the first Lightning to be shipped for sale outside of North America, to the world’s leading EV nation with nearly 80% of new vehicle sales being electric in 2022. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2024.
The Lightning, apart from having an enormous front trunk and pickup truck capabilities is unlike anything in the market now, Berg told the Free Press in an interview this week. “It’s like an SUV and a station wagon combined in a pickup with five seats.
“When it was launched in the U.S. (in April 2022), the first day, that day, it was kind of an explosion in requests from Norwegian customers asking for a reservation, asking when we’d launch.”
The truck appeals to horse enthusiasts as well as the many people who travel to their winter and summer cabins to fish, hike and especially ski, he said. “They’re bringing a lot of gear with them — snowboards, cross-country skis, alpine skis, helmets.”
Cost: $113,000
A Facebook group run by Norwegians discussing the Lightning has 4,000 members, Berg said, adding: “On a daily basis, they’re asking Ford to bring it.”
The vehicle will cost an estimated $113,000 including fees and 13% taxes, Berg confirmed.
While Tesla is the top-selling brand in Norway, the Scandanavian country has seen an influx of new electric vehicles made by Chinese automakers during the past six to eight months, he said. But, he noted proudly that the Ford Mustang Mach-E has become a big seller in Norway since it launched two years ago.
“Who would have believed that 12,000 electric horses would be on the roads of a small country like Norway two or three years ago?” Berg said. “It’s kind of amazing. And now the Lightning.”
Norway gets one color: Antimatter Blue
Customers will be able to buy one of a limited number of F-150 Lightning Lariat Launch Edition trucks exclusively with Super Crew Cab body style in Antimatter Blue metallic body color.
Ford is investing in electric vehicle development — more than $50 billion globally through 2026 — with a target production run rate of 2 million electric vehicles worldwide by the end of that year, the automaker said. The company expects EVs to be half of its global vehicle sales volume by 2030, Ford said Thursday.
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Earlier this year, Ford announced that it will again nearly double production capacity of F-150 Lightning to 150,000 vehicles per year at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, to meet customer demand.
F-150 owners preach the gospel in Norway
For Thursday’s big news conference, Ford decided to send to Norway customers who actually own the Lightning so they could share their experiences.
Jacen Craft, 31, a roofing salesman from Brecksville, Ohio, talked to the Free Press just before boarding his first flight to Europe. He and his husband, Justin Koenig, 31, general manager of a roofing company branch office, own an extended range Lariat and a standard range Lariat F-150 Lightning. They started their all-electric experience with a Mustang Mach-E and moved into their comfort zone: trucks.
“We need a truck for work, carrying ladders, roofing tools and other things all day,” said Craft, who previously owned a PowerBoost Hybrid F-150. “We love the quickness, the quietness, the technology. And we charge at home every night.”
They tow their boat and drive to Houghton Lake in Michigan to see Craft’s retired parents every two months or so, he said.
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“You change up your thoughts and plans and set habits. Instead of pulling into a gas station, you pull into your garage and plug it in,” Craft said. “We never thought we’d buy an EV so soon. It was never on our radar. I enjoy sharing our experience with other people. It’s all about education.”
As for the impact of low temperatures on the battery, he said, “range does drop a little bit. We drive to northern Michigan in 20-degree weather. It does take a little longer, but we end up stopping anyway. … By the time you take out the dogs, grab food and use the restroom, we’re usually done charging and we’re not even done eating.”
Slow down a little, take it easy
For folks in Norway, EV owners have learned to deal with preheating the battery before a long trip and then planning carefully to recharge, Berg said. “Who will drive three or four hours without stopping anyhow?”
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Also flying to Norway was Joe Sholtes, 34, of Albany, New York, who is a public safety dispatcher at a local police department. Having once owned a gasoline-powered pickup, he founded the Northeast Lightning Club. His 4-year-old son Remington often rides along in the Lightning.
“He has all the stats: Horsepower, 0 to 60 miles per hour and more memorized and loves to tell everyone about it,” Sholtes said. “He usually races me to plug it in every night.”
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.