Ford Motor has cut prices of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup trucks by up to 17 percent Monday, July 17. This is another sign that the growing inventories and tight competition are soothing the market for electric vehicles (EVs).
The company said the cutbacks, which lowered the Lightning's starting price by nearly $10,000 to $49,995, were due to lower material costs and the company having more factory output. Some versions will get a higher price cut than others.
Ford provides seven versions of the F-150 Lightning, including Pro, Platinum Extended Range and Lariat. The F-150 Lightning Pro, the vehicle's cheapest version, now costs $49,995, marking a $9,979 price cut from the previous price. The Platinum Extended Range, the most expensive version, has dropped its price by $6,079 to $91,995. Ford shares dropped 5.9 percent Monday after the price cuts were announced.
According to Ford, the F-150 Lightning's factory in Dearborn, Michigan, can make 150,000 trucks a year once it completes the last round of upgrades scheduled this fall. (Related: Ford halts production and shipping of F-150 Lightning EV due to unspecified battery issue.)
The Lightning is one of Ford's high-level electric vehicles (EVs) and is pivotal to its growth as it intends to transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles. Automakers worldwide have been investing hundreds of billions of dollars to produce new electric models, create battery factories and establish new EV plants.
But Ford's Lightning price reduction brings up questions about the strength of the EV market. Some car companies, meanwhile, are already reporting surplus inventory – a reversal of the previous year when new models had multi-month waiting lists.
Automakers are slashing prices of top-selling EV models
Automakers slashing prices of top-selling EV models is actually an ongoing trend.
Tesla, which has 60 percent of the United States market share in electric vehicles this year through June, reported a rise in second-quarter deliveries that was aided by price cuts and discounts carried out early this year. The company recently started production of its Cybertruck almost four years after the prototype was presented.
In January, Ford slashed the price of its Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, a direct competitor to Tesla's top-selling Model Y. The company lowered prices once more on the Mach-E in May.
Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley has expressed concern about price cuts on EVs, noting that it hurts resale values and brand image. Ford has been able to hike Lightning prices over the previous year, in part due to lack of EV truck options on the market.
"There's a limit on how far we'll go. I think it’s a worrying trend," Farley said of the company's price cut strategy at a Wall Street Journal event in May.
As reported by research firm Cox Automotive, the average price buyers paid for an EV industry-wide has dropped almost 20 percent from June 2022 to June 2023. Prices for gas-powered vehicles have been steady during the same period.
Meanwhile, Cox reported that at the end of June, there were 92 days of unsold EV inventory – a measure of stock availability based on recent sales trends. This doesn't count Tesla, which sells directly to consumers.
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Watch the video below to learn why towing with a Ford Lightning EV pickup is a total disaster.
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