2026 F-150 Lightning STX Model Introduced. Replaces the XLT

[sunrise089]

I didn't post any memes....

“People don't buy Chey’s because they know the quality sucks” is a meme answer, not a serious claim. Chevy and Ford are about equally popular. Both are 100 year old companies with some of the highest brand recognition in the world. Both have millions of devoted fans, and both have millions of people who would not even consider the other option. If you think one of those groups has everything figured out while the other gets everything wrong…well I’ll just say that claim isn’t supported by the evidence of vehicle sales, EV or otherwise.

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[El Duderino]

“People don't buy Chey’s because they know the quality sucks” is a meme answer, not a serious claim. Chevy and Ford are about equally popular. Both are 100 year old companies with some of the highest brand recognition in the world. Both have millions of devoted fans, and both have millions of people who would not even consider the other option. If you think one of those groups has everything figured out while the other gets everything wrong…well I’ll just say that claim isn’t supported by the evidence of vehicle sales, EV or otherwise.

I disagree with your assessment of my answer being a "meme answer".

See WXman's posts. Research 1st year Silverado EV owners experiences. There were tons of quality issues. I can agree that not all GM products are trash. But there are some glaring examples in the last 10 years worse than Ford. Thousands of 6.2L failures, 8 speed and 10 speed failures, the EV truck quality issues, etc.

Sure, Ford has it's issues too. More recalls than any manufacturer in last year or so.

Good to have choices then right? Personally, I chose Ford for an EV truck after learning of lots of issues with first year Silverado EV and it's styling not being for me. You? Might make a different choice....

 

[RickKeen]

I'll be perfectly honest... I would have a hard time picking a lightning still over the silverado if I was actively looking for a new truck. The range and charging curve is just such a large benefit to the silverado.

95% of your charging is likely to be at home where 10 kw is plenty to charge the truck overnight. Unless you plan on a lot of road trips, you seem to be over-indexing on Fast Charging.

The payload on the Silverado is soo small - not a good tradeoff for the larger battery IMHO.

 

[wighty]

95% of your charging is likely to be at home where 10 kw is plenty to charge the truck overnight. Unless you plan on a lot of road trips, you seem to be over-indexing on Fast Charging.

The payload on the Silverado is soo small - not a good tradeoff for the larger battery IMHO.

I have specifically avoided my F150L on multiple trips in the past 3 years of ownership because of the range/charging limitations... The ER version would possibly have made it doable on a few (I used ABRP to compare the trips between my SR and ER), but really the DCFC charging curve hinders it a lot. If you are worried about payload then the standard battery on the Silverado EV is pretty comparable to the Lightning's ER (in payload and battery size/range), though I get it that the WT is missing a lot of amenities the Lightning would still have.

 

[WXman]

Agree to disagree. I think your issue is totally legitimate but represents maybe 10% of the reason EV truck sales lag ICE trucks.

Again if your 100% the reason is correct then max range GM truck sales should have totally displaced SR Lightning sales. How’s that working out?

Well it's working out great. And here's why..

You've made two mistakes. First of all you cherry picked my statement. Read it again. The GM trucks are far more expensive than the Ford, and the Ford is already too expensive. Range is king, but price is queen.

Secondly GM engineering and build has been pure trash since the GMT400 platform debuted, and that was almost 40 years ago now. They are currently fighting massive strikes to their reputation over the junk engines and transmissions they are putting in their ICE trucks which certainly doesn't make people feel warm and fuzzy about buying a GM EV truck.

Lastly, if you think range concerns only account for 10% of the reason guys aren't buying EVs, you need to crawl out from under the rock you've been under for the last 5 years. EVERYBODY interviewed about EVs, particularly trucks, comments on range and price as the sole detractors.

 

[sunrise089]

@WXman Perhaps I misunderstood you. Your post I quoted ended with the following paragraph, pasted in full:

“That's 100% the reason EV truck sales are still a tiny fraction of ICE truck sales, and nobody will convince me otherwise.”

Your post had six paragraphs leading to that conclusion. All six discussed range.

I welcome correction if I misunderstood your point. What percentage of the reason that ‘EV truck sales are still a tiny fraction of ICE truck sales’ is explained by range issues? How are you breaking down your 100% figure above? Your original post I quoted barely mentioned price. If you’re now emphasizing price as a/the dominant issue then we’re actually largely in agreement

With respect to GM reliability, if your story is correct, why do GM ICE truck sales outpace Ford’s? Why do your hypothetical would-be buyers correctly, in your eyes, discount GM reliability in their EVs but ignore it in their millions of ICE truck and SUVs sold each year?

With respect to range generally, can you site any data whatsoever which shows anything like a linear relationship between EV range and sales? With respect to interviews…talk is very cheap. I’m happy to be proven wrong on this, but I need to see actual data which backs up what you’re saying.

 

[El Duderino]

@sunrise089

GM website showing actual data that Ford is stealing GM's market share:

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/0...edition-stealing-sales-away-from-chevy-tahoe/

Could it be buyers are tired of their 6.2L engines failing and trying another brand?

 

[sunrise089]

@sunrise089

GM website showing actual data that Ford is stealing GM's market share:

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/0...edition-stealing-sales-away-from-chevy-tahoe/

Could it be buyers are tired of their 6.2L engines failing and trying another brand?

My man, I promise you I have no desire to be 'Chevy defender guy' here, since I personally don't find the GM EV options very compelling at all.

That said, GMAuthority is just a commercial blog. It's no more affiliated with GMU or 'official' than this site is affiliated with Ford. And sadly, the article you cited is pretty clickbaity. As the article itself notes, Expedition + Expedition Max sales are up by 9,551 in Q2 year over year. Meanwhile Tahoe + Suburban + Yukon + Yukon XL sales are up 13,130 over the same period. So to be clear GM sales increased by more than Ford sales did year over year.

I promise you I am not disputing you that GM is having an issue with reliability for some equipment on some of their vehicles. And I'm not disputing that some buyers (out of hundreds of thousands) are opting to switch to Ford due to reliability concerns. But the data is very clear that this is not happening at any sort of scale relative to total sales in this space.

(Adding this as a parenthetical since it's not that important - the specific qualitative claim made in the article (again the quantitative claim is actually pro-GM) is that "many" new Expedition owners are switching over from GM vehicles. But taking a moment to reflect, that quote should be obvious. These vehicles sell in very high numbers and there are only a few options. Of course in any given year thousands of Expeditions will be sold to former GM owners, but thousands of Tahoes will be sold to former Ford owners too. That's just a product of many consumers not being especially brand loyal and just buying what seems best in any given year.)

 

[RickKeen]

I have specifically avoided my F150L on multiple trips in the past 3 years of ownership because of the range/charging limitations...

I lean more towards the "I wish my F150 Lightning was a 3/4 ton truck" end of the scale. Wish the bed was bigger and the payload higher. I care little for leather seating or sunroofs or electronic bells and whistles. Thus I selected the Pro-SR for max payload.

That said, it has replaced my Chevy 2500 for almost everything I need a truck for with very few regrets other than longer distance towing. The lost bed length is somewhat made up in some situations by the cavernous back seat of the F150. And the Independent rear suspension and torque of the Lightning make it tow better than my 2500 ever did (within the Lightning's EV range limitations).

Understand that there are some people who need big batteries. But statistically, most people, most of the time just drive around town, thus my comment included the word "likely".

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Ditto,
I bought the Lightning SR as replacement for my Ram 2500 - and around town short haul low speed the Lighting puts that Ram to SHAME pulling trailers in a City, stop and go.

 

[Robocop]

The problem with the Silverado EV:

- It's a GM product. The worst design, engineering, and build quality in the U.S. and it's not even close.
- It's ugly as sin.
- It's a lot more expensive.
- It lacks a lot of standard features that Lightning gets standard.

....not to mention the frunk on it just plain sucks.

 

[WXman]

I really hope that some aftermarket company out there will take the factory graphics package from the 2026 STX trucks and offer those same graphics for other guys to retrofit to their trucks next year. I'm really digging the graphics on that STX. Change the STX lettering to FLASH and take my money.

 

[Ted23Lightning]

I really hope that some aftermarket company out there will take the factory graphics package from the 2026 STX trucks and offer those same graphics for other guys to retrofit to their trucks next year. I'm really digging the graphics on that STX. Change the STX lettering to FLASH and take my money.

I agree saw one person trick their Lightning out with King Ranch emblems & such.

 

[rgb1701]

Will the 2026 Stx Lightening use ccs or Nacs charge port?

 

[RickLightning]

Nice….i wasn’t aware that loophole was added. Especially given the anti-EV sentiment of the crafters of that legislation.

Actually, this loophole wasn't added recently, it's existed for years. The key is a binding contract, with a decent deposit.

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