Ford Motor Co., which shut down its reservation system for the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck in an attempt to manage overwhelming response, will start accepting purchase orders this week, the company announced Tuesday.
For the first time, reservations can be converted to actual orders.
The earliest reservation holders will receive “invitations” by email on Thursday to place orders to purchase the truck, the company said. Deliveries begin in the spring.
Ford said it will email potential customers in waves from when their $100 refundable reservation for Lightning was received. The number of emails sent by Ford to potential customers in coming weeks and months will depend on the number of reservations converted to sales.
When one person declines, that increases the odds of someone else getting a truck that ranges in price from $39,974 to $92,000, depending on specialty items.
For those who don’t receive invitations to convert for the 2022 model year, “there will be opportunity to order for future model years in due course,” Ford said in a news release.
One issue that may influence the decision to purchase is delivery date, Darren Palmer, Ford general manager of battery electric vehicles, told the Free Press.
Soon, 150,000 a year
Ford has already said it doesn’t expect to fill all orders in 2022.
The Dearborn automaker said previously it planned to build 80,000 F-150 Lightning pickups annually at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn next year. Now Ford said it’s striving to double production goals to 150,000 annually.
Ford said it would provide detail in coming months about the timeline.
The company is working with suppliers to find out how quickly the company can ramp up production. A lot depends on supply chain issues and whether the automaker can get the parts needed. Factory operations also depend on the health of UAW workers and limiting the impact of COVID-19.
Ford, which capped reservations for its F-150 Lightning at 200,000 in December, said it is doing all it can to increase the odds of filling orders sooner than predicted.
‘Break’ constraints
“Our teams are working hard and creatively to break production constraints in order to get more F-150 Lightning trucks into the hands of our customers,” Kumar Galhotra, president of the Americas & International Markets Group, said in a news release. “The reality is clear: people are ready for an all-electric F-150 and Ford is pulling out all the stops to scale our operations and increase production capacity.”
A task force of employees from manufacturing, purchasing, strategy, product development and capacity planning are finding ways to deliver the latest planned production increase, the news release said.
“Ford is working with key suppliers — as well as its own manufacturing facilities Rawsonville Components Plant and Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center — to find ways to increase capacity of electric vehicle parts, including battery cells, battery trays and electric drive systems,” the news release said.
Chuck Browning, UAW vice president said in the news release, “UAW members are leading the way in doubling the amount of vehicles Ford is producing for this game-changing model of our legendary union-built vehicle.”
An F-150 customer eager to pay
Tim Morse, 66, of Port Huron, placed a $100 refundable reservation for an F-150 Lightning last year.
“I’m very deliberate and conscious of the environment and my footprint,” he told the Free Press on Monday. “When I read about the F-150 Lightning I thought, you know, this might be it.”
This will be Morse’s first pickup truck. He owns a 2010 Mercury Mariner and a 2014 Ford Escape. But he was going to move away from a gasoline-powered vehicle, and he decided he would go for it. The 300-mile range on a charge might take a little planning but it didn’t scare him.
“We plan to convert to an order,” Morse said. “How this all started is we test drove a Hybrid F-150 at Northgate (Ford) and we loved it. But then came the electric F-150. If this was going to be the next chapter, we decided to go with that.”
Demand and pricing
Meanwhile, Ford said it is doing its best to balance supply and demand while at the same time offering a fair price for consumers.
First of all, waves of orders are meant to maintain a fair process and equal access, Palmer said.
Customers will have selected their Ford dealers as part of the process and have an ability to review the full order prior to committing to purchase, he said.
The dealer franchise model used by Ford allows dealers to set prices based on a recommended manufacturer’s suggested retail price or MSRP, Palmer said. “Customers will see with full transparency before they commit.”
If a customer wants to change dealers during the process, they can, he said.
In recent months, news reports have chronicled buyers who immediately resell the popular Ford Bronco at a profit.
‘Not good for anybody’
Ford is hoping people won’t buy and immediately resell the Lightning, Palmer said.
“We want to try and discourage people from flipping it,” he said. “We want to keep a close eye on this. That’s not good for anybody. … We hope to give the best deal so that it’s available at MSRP.
“It’s a two-way street,” Palmer said. “We have a little bit of that with Bronco. With this much demand, that’s something we care about and we’re looking at. The biggest thing we can do is increase capacity.”
When asked whether news about the all-electric Chevrolet Silverado being revealed Wednesday has influenced the news release of F-150 developments, Palmer said Ford respects the competitive plans of others “but we’re doing ours.”
$7,500 back helps
At this point, Ford is doing all it can to fulfill customer expectations without regard for what other companies are doing, he said. The $7,500 rebate for all-electric vehicles is adding to the enthusiasm, he said.
As part of its final phase of the new product launch, Ford will build a bunch of vehicles to do final validation testing in real world conditions. That means people in Michigan, Florida, New York, Colorado, Nevada and New Jersey will see the Lightning on the street.
The truck has been tested under harsh simulated conditions and now Ford is pushing for testing in the field, Palmer said. “This is final validation. You retest everything.”
Electric push
Ford increased production of its all-electric Mustang Mach-E with a goal of reaching 200,000 vehicles per year by 2023, the company said in its news release. Within 24 months, the company plans to have the global capacity to build 600,000 all-electric vehicles annually.
Ford builds the Mach-E in Mexico for all global markets except China. The automaker just began its first shipments of the Mach-E in December in China. Soon, Ford’s all-electric E-Transit van will go on sale this year.
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As Wall Street heaps praise on all companies surging into all-electric vehicle production, led by Tesla, Ford continues making headlines for its push.
Ford reiterated its commitment to invest more than $30 billion in electric vehicles through 2025 with a goal of becoming the No. 2 electric vehicle maker in North America, the company news release said.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he plans to challenge competitors for the top spot as battery investments come to fruition. The company is building an auto plant in Tennessee, where it will make next generation F-Series electric pickups.
Along with SK Innovation, Ford is building battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky to make lithium-ion batteries as part of an $11.4 billion investment.
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard:phoward@freepress.com and 313-618-1034.Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.