Ford CEO Jim Farley Totally Regrets Ford F150 Lightning Pickup

[TwentyTwentyThree]

(A) JP Morgan (analyst) is predicting $120 crude oil in the near future. Not sure the enthusiasm will hold for massive v8’s at $5-$8/gal depending on where you live.

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[RickLightning]

Never seen them on tv. Haven't seen those on the net yet though.

Swamp People doesn’t run it?

 

[Ventorum94]

I can't honestly remember ever seeing any commercial on the tube. Not for the Lightning, Mach e yea I seem to recall 1 or 2.

Maybe I’m the exception, but I don’t watch tv with commercials anymore (other than sporting events). I doubt the demographic that buys new full-size trucks is reached by tv commercials… but there was plenty of rich marketing content on Ford’s website, visual and video, for anyone interested in F150 Lightning. I’m suggesting that message was a distraction from the true strengths and capabilities of an electric F150. And as I recall, there were plenty of pre-production takers- it’s just that they were sold a concept different from the full-size electric truck capability that Ford finally brought to market (I’d love to hear from Linda Zhang- remember her?- her story of the F150 Lightning, unscripted and unedited).

 

[21st Century Truck]

The relevant paragraphs for anyone not inclined to click. Added brackets to clarify speaker.

The F-150 Lightning seemed to be selling well at first, but after you'd expanded to meet higher-than-anticipated demand, it didn't go as planned. Looking back at the Lightning, would you do it differently?

[Farley]I totally would've done it differently. I mean, look, we didn't know what we didn't know.

When did you realize you'd done EVs wrong?

[Farley]When we ripped apart a Tesla with Doug Field [Ford's chief officer for EVs, digital, and design, formerly of Apple and Tesla]. I was just absolutely flabbergasted. The Mach-E's wiring harness was 70 pounds heavier and 1.6 kilometers longer. We didn't know what was going on in [Tesla engineers' ] minds. But now we understand. They had no prejudice. We had prejudice. We'd gone to our supply-chain person and said, "Buy another wiring harness." [Tesla] said, "Let's design the vehicle for the lowest, smallest battery." Totally different approach.

Charlie Munro could have told them that. Matter of fact... he did! when the Ford EV execs visited Munro Associates and talked about these very subjects in 2024.

 

[RLXXI]

Swamp People doesn’t run it?

Wouldn't know, I'm transplanted.

 

[RLXXI]

Maybe I’m the exception, but I don’t watch tv with commercials anymore (other than sporting events). I doubt the demographic that buys new full-size trucks is reached by tv commercials… but there was plenty of rich marketing content on Ford’s website, visual and video, for anyone interested in F150 Lightning. I’m suggesting that message was a distraction from the true strengths and capabilities of an electric F150. And as I recall, there were plenty of pre-production takers- it’s just that they were sold a concept different from the full-size electric truck capability that Ford finally brought to market (I’d love to hear from Linda Zhang- remember her?- her story of the F150 Lightning, unscripted and unedited).

That may be why I haven't seen them, pretty much the same reason and Linda who? I guess I need to shake out my rock or something lol.

 

[Ventorum94]

That may be why I haven't seen them, pretty much the same reason and Linda who? I guess I need to shake out my rock or something lol.

Linda Zhang is (was?) the Chief Engineer on the F150 Lightning project:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Zhang?wprov=sfti1#

 

[02Reaper]

When I found mine in 22 you couldn't hardly find them and you had to get on the waiting list to buy them. The order banks were full. Ford going up on the pro price, then not making enough of them put a nail in the coffin, then the dealers with their markups put more nails in the coffin. Suddenly those people backed out and were pissed. If they would have priced it right to begin with and kept the plant doing 25 thousand a year or whatever they started out with it could have not been such a loss leader for them. Look at the mustang cobras over the years...Did they produce 100k of them? No...How about the original lightning? Not 100k there either...Did they lose money on those too or did the Price them right? I traded in a good 2016 ecoboost on my lightning. Now if I wanted another new f150 I would have to settle with Cam Phaser issues, Transmission issues, and Wet belt issues, and still a 60k price tag minimum. Who wants to do that?

 

[RLXXI]

Linda Zhang is (was?) the Chief Engineer on the F150 Lightning project:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Zhang?wprov=sfti1#

Thank you Linda wherever you may be, for building the best truck I've ever owned.

 

[Dan C]

Not many CEO's can screw up as much as Farley and keep their jobs

 

[JMD359]

I mean, Ford quality isn't exactly top notch, but Farley is upset because he sold you a truck for about half of what it cost him.

This right here 100%

 

[Ventorum94]

Not many CEO's can screw up as much as Farley and keep their jobs

I would give him credit for navigating the stormy seas of climate change regulation. Should he have recognized that extreme CAFE targets and CO2 regulation were actually political winds, that could change direction with an election? I think Farley did an exceptional job under the circumstances that government regulations had imposed upon his company. And remember how he “broke the ice” in negotiating our Fords’ access to Tesla Superchargers (the very first non-Tesla access, something most pundits said would never happen)? Takes a bold man, who thinks outside the box!

 

[Dan C]

Tesla had to open its chargers to get federal money. He lets the political winds blow him.

 

[EV Engineer]

I think that Ford over reacted to the initial customer excitement with reservations, the plant expansion was a waste of money, should have waited a couple more years before considering increasing production capacity.

Remember how many folks interested in the basic Pro? These folks were disenchanted when they could not place orders due low availability, many walked away not being convince to pony up for a higher trim.

Covid's impacted all aspects of the economy, but the substantial constraints of technology, made it harder for way too long to produce product at planned prices.

Federal incentives going away and the aluminum supplier capacity restrictions were the nail in the coffin.

I agree with this. The message got very confusing.

"40k electric truck". People were interested. When you went to the dealer everything was 63k for a base model.

They should have saturated the lots with the 45k SR XLT options. But I honestly don't believe you can make $ on those trims. Because that's what the midsize cross overs are going for and only some companies are making profit on those.

But Ford should've used the Loss leader approach Tesla did and Rivian is doing.

Lose $ on first few years of sales but convince people of the technology.They tried to skip this step.

Instead they tried to recoup research cost with $95k trucks AND convince people of new technology. When a F150 Sport ICE sits right next to it for 39k.

Only so many people that are interested in EV / willing to experiment with transportation / can afford a 75k option.

 

[EV Engineer]

Not many CEO's can screw up as much as Farley and keep their jobs

The company has had YoY growth in almost all aspects since Covid.

I think Farley is actually doing a pretty fine Job. He is leaning into ICE while trying to make sure they don't get left behind for EV.

They're not Telsa, but they're not Stellantis either.

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