Ford CEO Jim Farley Totally Regrets Ford F150 Lightning Pickup

[Zprime29]

the subject line of this post is totally bogus. Nowhere does Farley say "he regrets the Lightning. click bait

Blame Car and Driver, that's what they titled their article. I read it before seeing it linked here, was a little miffed at getting suckered. I'm going to blame it on lack of sleep.

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[Piquette]

I love my ‘22 Lightning’s Lariat ER. It is my fourth electrified Ford vehicle, starting with a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid, followed by a 2010 Fusion Hybrid, a 2013 C-Max Energy (which Ford also killed) and now my Lightning.

I hate the fact that a battery module can fail at any time without warning (I have already had to have 2 replaced at different times), which necessitates being without my truck for 2 weeks while Ford gets around to sending my dealer the parts to replace the bad modules.

Will/should I buy another electrified Ford in the future?

 

[Zaptor]

Ford sold out the 2022 production (though brief) and demand was so strong that they even raised prices of 2023s (remember?). Downward price adjustment only happened after price caps for new EV tax credits were legislated. I think that Ford’s mistake was in ever suggesting that a Lightning would be an under-$60k truck. Ordinarily, one would expect the development expense of a new-generation vehicle to be recovered over years of production, and hundreds of thousands of units- but that the cost of materials, parts, and labor to build that new vehicle would be less than the selling price, on Day One. I doubt that any F150 Lightning ever built sold for even the cost of the parts (including massive battery pack) to build it. The marketing for Lightnings should have been aimed at people who were already willing to pay $60k+ for a new Tesla, but wanted a traditional full-size electric truck.

Hard agree. Should have been marketed as a premium product from the outset, never a $40k work truck that a CPA fresh out of school could have told them wouldn't pencil out. I think your $60k number for a base is dead-on ($59,995 plus delivery!) and the Pro shouldn't exist. Oh well, at least we picked up a couple before they killed it...
-Zap

 

[Effonefiddy Lightning]

This is what happens when the government forces people or companies to do something they otherwise wouldn't have.

 

[davehu]

advertising wouldn't have saved the lightning. Range and particularly range in cold weather and/or towing. And $70k Plus was a problem. But I'm glad I got one when I could. Last vehicle I'll ever own.

 

[roddiaz1]

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.

Why would they wait so long to crack open a Tesla?!?! Clearly 100+ years of "tradition" are hampering innovation. Should have gone pure skunk works with a clean sheet of paper to develop EVs. That said, the Lightning was a great pro-type. I'm glad we got one.

 

[roddiaz1]

Seems to me that we bought $120,000 trucks for $70,000.

If it hadn't been for COVID, we might have gotten them for $45k -$50k.

 

[Ventorum94]

If it hadn't been for COVID, we might have gotten them for $45k -$50k.

I don’t see how a vehicle that cost $120k to build could have ever sold for $45-$50k. Covid economics was probably a lifesaver for the Lightning. The prices of all new vehicles inflated to crazy new heights, making a truck which needed to be sold for $80k a real possibility, and giving Ford cover to only lose $50k per vehicle. I suspect that what really drove the cost up was foreclosing the possibility of importing battery packs from China. The legislation that renewed the EV tax credit also necessitated U.S. manufacture of batteries- a good idea in principle, but added significantly to the cost of bringing American EVs to market.

 

[roddiaz1]

I don’t see how a vehicle that cost $120k to build could have ever sold for $45-$50k.

Clearly the "cost" of the vehicle had nothing to do with the selling price. These were goona subsidized until production volumes could be increased and production costs could be amortized over a larger base.

Originally, pre-covid, Tesla announced the Cyber Truck at $49,500. Jim Farley wasted no time to jump in with the promise of a competing model for the same $49,500. That was going to be the target price. Of course, reality got in the way and the CT was delayed, the Lightning did not come in on budget, Covid happened, supply chains were disrupted, GMC/Chevy were way behind, RAM was a pump-fake, etc. etc. However, had the CT and Lightning come out more or less at the same time, I think both leaders would have recklessly under cut each other.

 

[Oafy44]

Probably regrets canceling it this week as well while crude goes higher.

 

[detansinn]

Like many automakers, Ford didn’t realize that BEVs were going to be thrust into some culture war nonsense. I don’t blame Farley for the calls that Ford made at the time — both building these trucks and cancelling the program.

In the end, I feel lucky to own one of these machines.

I’ve owned some exotic stuff in my life, but hands down, my Lightning is one of the best vehicles that I ever owned. The plan was always to drive it for 10+ years. I have no doubt that it will go that distance and beyond. There’s no need to upgrade and knowing that Ford is out of this business for now, I know that I won’t be tempted anytime soon.

I am at the age where there’s like only 1 or 2 new trucks yet to be purchased by me before I am on the fireplace mantel in an urn. So, I am going to enjoy my Lightning.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Probably regrets canceling it this week as well while crude goes higher.

Yup, diesel price here went up 52 cents a gallon {from $3.579/g on 2/27 to 4.099/g this afternoon}
The value has increased from morning to afternoon over the last 3 days.

BTW when it reaches ~$5 gallon that is the equivalent value for electricity I'm charging my Lightning with.

 

[Oafy44]

Yup, diesel price here went up 52 cents a gallon {from $3.579/g on 2/27 to 4.099/g this afternoon}
The value has increased from morning to afternoon over the last 3 days.

BTW when it reaches ~$5 gallon that is the equivalent value for electricity I'm charging my Lightning with.

$5 total to charge the lighting correct ?

 

[luebri]

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.

It always flabbergasted me how both Ford and Tesla treated $100 fully refundable reservation as "convertible demand". When I placed my $100 deposit on the first day of reservations, my thought was "it's a $100 refundable... what's the risk" maybe the stars will align and I can buy one. The stars did align for me luckily, but I totally understand why it didnt work for others.

Also as someone that (may or may not) have been involved in the supply chain for the Lightning, I sure love that Ford over bet, it was one of the big stars that aligned.

Its an amazing vehicle but I think Ford waited too long to cut bait, they will learn from it and hopefully apply that the UEV and then get back to a Full Size performance truck in the future with a profitable path.

 

[TaxmanHog]

$5 total to charge the lighting correct ?

$5 for one gallon of diesel would allow my old 2012 F250 PSD to go about 15 miles = $0.333 / mile

The energy ~15 kWh to drive my F150 Lightning in Massachusetts National Grid energy rates is currently $0.3184 a kWh, my winter inefficiency that includes off the plug cabin conditioning and occasional battery warming on the plug = $0.333 / mile aka around 1 MPK.

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