Ford considers ending F-150 Lightning

[TwentyTwentyThree]

That’s too bad. I have never owned a ford or a truck before, first time buyer and really impressed with the truck. I hope when and if the next gen truck comes out, it is as good.

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[dkuhlman99]

 

[RickLightning]

If anyone at Ford reads this…there’s no way I’d ever go back to a gas F-150 or any other gas vehicle for that matter. If I ever had to replace my Lightning and I couldn’t buy another new Lightning, I’d probably switch brands or buy a used Lightning.

Same here. We do not plan on ever owning another vehicle with a gas engine in it, including a PHEV or similar. Not happening. We bought the Mach-E and Lightning for many reasons, but near the top of the list was to support Ford's efforts and give people choices other than Elmo. I believed that Bill Ford wanted EVs for a long time, and they would not back down. We planned on buying the 3 row SUV/Explorer EV that they cancelled to replace the Mach-E. First they moved it out, then they cancelled it. Figured we might buy a T3 in 2025, now that is 2028. Slowly losing hope that they are going to have vehicles we want when we want them.

We will be watching their competition (except for GM and Stellantis) carefully. Our plan in retirement was to cycle vehicles every 3 years or so. Mach-E is about to hit 3.5, 4.5 if you count the 2021 we had. Ready for a change, but nothing there to buy.

 

[TheBigBezo]

No disrespect to our Friend from Ford, but it feels like it’s a matter of time before the Lightning is done. It simply isn’t selling much, the current administration is pretty vocally opposed to EVs, and being honest it doesn’t seem like the American people are interested in EVs yet.

I’m mainly concerned with how a potential cancellation would affect the resale and maintenance support for existing trucks. I really like truck but I have doubts now that I may have taken a poor risk with Ford.

 

[LightningDan]

If anyone at Ford reads this…there’s no way I’d ever go back to a gas F-150 or any other gas vehicle for that matter. If I ever had to replace my Lightning and I couldn’t buy another new Lightning, I’d probably switch brands or buy a used Lightning.

Id just sell and buy a Rivian. If they discontinued it I doubt theyd really do any good updates after that. Would be the dumbest decision ever.

 

[LightningDan]

No disrespect to our Friend from Ford, but it feels like it’s a matter of time before the Lightning is done. It simply isn’t selling much, the current administration is pretty vocally opposed to EVs, and being honest it doesn’t seem like the American people are interested in EVs yet.

I’m mainly concerned with how a potential cancellation would affect the resale and maintenance support for existing trucks. I really like truck but I have doubts now that I may have taken a poor risk with Ford.

This administration is crashing and burning. Even so we only got 3 more years of this foolishness

 

[PJnc284]

No disrespect to our Friend from Ford, but it feels like it’s a matter of time before the Lightning is done. It simply isn’t selling much, the current administration is pretty vocally opposed to EVs, and being honest it doesn’t seem like the American people are interested in EVs yet.

I’m mainly concerned with how a potential cancellation would affect the resale and maintenance support for existing trucks. I really like truck but I have doubts now that I may have taken a poor risk with Ford.

yeah can't blame them with the shear amount of money they're losing and the current political landscape. "Best Selling EV Truck" doesn't really get you too far considering the numbers. If I were buying today, I'd be looking at a 22/23 for the price savings. The newer models don't bring anything new to the table other than missing parts. Same 400v, same "ok" charging. Would leave some egg on their face considering they made a big deal about showing the STX at Tom's get together a couple weekends back. Continued support or lack thereof could impact future sales significantly which I'm sure they're considering as well.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

It's kind of interesting they are losing so much on the truck. I assume thats from the plant side of things? They took a regular F150 and just changed a few things to make it work. Obviously there is some design costs, but look at GM and how they did a complete redesign.

I don't plan on selling the Lightning anytime soon, and I guess when I am, I'll have to look elsewhere. Maybe by then Rivian will have a 240v outlet to use as a generator by then, or maybe Tesla will come out with a normal looking truck.

 

[JTWIRE55]

Thanks for responding.

Let us hope they do not make a grave error and stop producing the Lightning. It would open the door to the Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, Hummer EV and last;y the Cybertruck. (Also Rivian).

 

[Jim Lewis]

Yeah it seems like a lot of the source for this is someone at a dealership and they are just running with it because negative EV news gets clicks.

Yeah, I'd say quite a few Ford dealers don't like EVs. Less business for their service departments, and they don't like online orders->direct to the customer taking them out of the loop in sales, the ability to upsell you, etc. So, if Ford wants its EVs to take off, it needs to figure out a way to get the dealers enthusiastically on board. They have the chicken-and-egg problem from the customer's side, when you need your truck serviced and find that your dealer only has one EV tech with a backlog of vehicles to service, and you have to leave your vehicle on the dealer's lot (chippety-chip, bang-bang) until it's turn in line comes around. When an OTA update bricked my Lariat by leaving it in Inhibit Mode, a five-minute FDRS fix would have unlocked it. I called around to four or five SA Ford dealers. None had mobile service for that (~"we can't afford to have our single EV tech on the road wasting time like that; we need him here at the dealership"), and I would have had to have my vehicle towed and sit in a lot until the tech could get around to it - I was told ~4 to 5 days wait. I actually wondered whether, by such policies, dealers were hoping to discourage customers from ever buying another EV.

 

[Kev12345]

I notice a lot more lightning contractor trucks lately. The fleet world was just catching on to the idea of reduced fuel cost and maintenance.

 

[dkuhlman99]

No disrespect to our Friend from Ford, but it feels like it’s a matter of time before the Lightning is done. It simply isn’t selling much, the current administration is pretty vocally opposed to EVs, and being honest it doesn’t seem like the American people are interested in EVs yet.

I’m mainly concerned with how a potential cancellation would affect the resale and maintenance support for existing trucks. I really like truck but I have doubts now that I may have taken a poor risk with Ford.

Love the truck but am now glad I leased . Was concerned the truck would become another IPhone , meant to for the consumer to discard and purchase the next great thing.
Too bad this administration is so short sighted.

 

[LightningFastZu]

Before Ford considers canceling the Lightning, they should think several years into the future. Whatever your politics, you have to consider that the next president may have a different opinion about electric vehicles. Electric vehicles don’t have to be a partisan topic, especially if we want to compete with the world. Also, if Ford had been planning ahead, 2026 is about the time they should’ve had a new Lightning model. If you do nothing more than have 100 additional miles of range (420miles), you start to attract a lot of holdouts. Then, if you look another five years into the future, battery tech will start to deliver 500 miles ranges at the same weight as today’s 320 mile battery. And it gets better from there. Range is the issue. Make no mistake. $120k Escalade IQs seem to be selling just fine.

 

[snb2557]

I love this truck and hope it will last 10 years. I'm not going back to an ICE or Hybrid powertrain after this. I would assume GM would follow and cancel their even lower selling trucks, nevermind the lack of carplay. The Scout EV so far looks like the only other truck I'd consider, but it's not out yet :-/. Now I'm imagining a life driving an SUV EV [probably from Toyota] and having to rent a truck when I need the utility :vomit:

All that hubba-hubba from Farley about how great these trucks are, welcoming all the new customers to the "Ford Family", and how invested Ford is in electric vehicles. Sheesh.

 

[WXman]

I wouldn't say the current administration hates EVs. They are just very pro-domestic economy, and the automakers are a HUGE part of the economy, and the automakers are losing their a$$es on EVs. ICE trucks are FAR more profitable. And so, the administration is simply trying to deregulate and make it easier to sell more trucks.

I personally feel that options are good for everyone, so while this Lightning I'm driving now will be my first and last EV, I do hope Ford continues to keep making the Lightning next year. I hope all the news coming out of credible journalistic sources is wrong.

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