Lightning sales down 42 percent in May

[RickKeen]

The 3+ year old Lightning is ranked #1 or #2 in many publications list of EV trucks. Its the sales leader. If there is a problem selling it, its either a lack of market demand for EV pickups, or Ford sucks at selling EV trucks.

The towing range thing IS losing compared to the Chevy/GM. Apparently people care more about range than payload. Probably most people don't even think about payload - just blindly load up their truck with whatever fits.

Sponsored

 

[jjupi91897]

The 3+ year old Lightning is ranked #1 or #2 in many publications list of EV trucks. Its the sales leader. If there is a problem selling it, its either a lack of market demand for EV pickups, or Ford sucks at selling EV trucks.

The towing range thing IS losing compared to the Chevy/GM. Apparently people care more about range than payload. Probably most people don't even think about payload - just blindly load up their truck with whatever fits.

I see more trucks on the road towing campers and trailers than carrying a heavy payload.

 

[Adventureboy]

I’d like to think so, but they cut the battery size of the XLT and Flash for 2025 while their competitors are increasing battery. It makes no sense.

Agree, it seems odd, but there is a reason. The physical battery pack size will be the same across all ERs, and Ford is in transition on the traction battery side to SK batteries.

I can't seem to find a definitive answer here, and others may know more on this front, but did Ford move 2025 to an LFP pack instead of the previous NMC pack? This would explain the lower capacity.

If so, this reduces overall capacity a bit for the same battery size, but brings reliability and longevity up by a large margin. It also allows daily charges to 100% with much less degradation than NMC.

 

[Maineiac12]

Agree, it seems odd, but there is a reason. The physical battery pack size will be the same across all ERs, and Ford is in transition on the traction battery side to SK batteries.

I can't seem to find a definitive answer here, and others may know more on this front, but did Ford move 2025 to an LFP pack instead of the previous NMC pack? This would explain the lower capacity.

If so, this reduces overall capacity a bit for the same battery size, but brings reliability and longevity up by a large margin. It also allows daily charges to 100% with much less degradation than NMC.

I can’t find the post, but there was information shared somewhere that it wasn’t a new chemistry and just a cost-cutting measure.

 

[chl]

ICE sales are up. Mach-E sales are up. It’s specifically a Lightning issue.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/06/03/ford-auto-sales-may-tariffs.html

The Lightning sales are down in MAy, but they out sold all other EV pickups last quarter...and "a Ford spokesperson told Electrek that the April sales drop was due to lower inventory resulting from model year changeovers."

With a surge in sales in the first quarter, probably by some people trying to head off the tariff increase that will hit Lightnings in June, I think you could expect both a reduced supply and a reduced demand in May, resulting in lower sales numbers for the Lightning.

The good news is that EV sales in general are still rising about 10% per year....ultimately they should outpace ICE sales at some point. The removal of the tax credit if it happens will hurt EV sales of course for however long it lasts (until the mid-terms?).

Meanwhile, China EV sales outpace all other EV makers world wide...we are losing the race to market superiority.

 

[pullinggs]

The good news is that EV sales in general are still rising about 10% per year....ultimately they should outpace ICE sales at some point.

The rate of adoption is higher pretty much everywhere else in the world, with China leading at about 50%. Like others have said, we are actively destroying our future competitiveness.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

It may make sense for Ford to 'do what it takes' to keep the Lighting sales enough to support the assembly plant on at least one shift, and wait out some market issues. I can see a key target being MSRP reductions - ie the smaller battery option, less bells and whistles would support that. The newer GM and CT will have some pent up demand from customers that were waiting for those models (customers that didn't want to buy the Lightning, or they would have already during the three years). But pent up demand doesn't last - ask Ford - then you have to keep sales up by selling to others that were not waiting on the release of those models.
Accessing a wider band of the public means getting the price into a range they can afford, and bigger batteries doesn't do that.

If you look at the strategy we see from Ford with the PHEV version of the Ranger (outside of N.America) and the lower price point versions of the Lightning for 2025/26 these may be testing the market and moving sales to places where EV sales are better (Australia, EU) while biding time in N.America for a few things to develop - including EV charging networks, which continue to expand.
Remember, N.America is still way behind many other regions on charging networks, and the jittery-class don't by an EV if the charging infrastructure worries them.

To my thinkng, Ford are just matching their development to the market, if it takes longer, they are ok with that - like Ram, pushing new electric products down the road makes financial sense at this point in time.
Everywhere EV sales continue to take market share from ICE, just slower rate in N.America for now.

 

[BabyDoc1012]

The Lightning sales are down in MAy, but they out sold all other EV pickups last quarter...and "a Ford spokesperson told Electrek that the April sales drop was due to lower inventory resulting from model year changeovers."

With a surge in sales in the first quarter, probably by some people trying to head off the tariff increase that will hit Lightnings in June, I think you could expect both a reduced supply and a reduced demand in May, resulting in lower sales numbers for the Lightning.

The good news is that EV sales in general are still rising about 10% per year....ultimately they should outpace ICE sales at some point. The removal of the tax credit if it happens will hurt EV sales of course for however long it lasts (until the mid-terms?).

Meanwhile, China EV sales outpace all other EV makers world wide...we are losing the race to market superiority.

So I just saw a video on YouTube yesterday and have not verified the info on it, so take it with a grain of salt, but the video was saying that a lot of the EV sales in China are not actual sales to customers, but registrations by the manufacturers to claim the Chinese tax credit. The cars are then being dumped into a sort of EV graveyard and sitting for a while before being sold as used at about 2/3 the price. So I don’t know how much I would trust their numbers. I don’t put a whole lot of stock into any info coming from China.

 

[N87]

... I don’t put a whole lot of stock into any info coming from China.

Do you put a lot of stock into info coming from our media?

 

[BabyDoc1012]

Do you put a lot of stock into info coming from our media?

Not really to be honest with you, especially when the source of the info is the CCP. If the report is accurate about manufacturers registering EVs for the credit then dumping them on the used market their EV industry will implode similarly to how their real estate market did a while back.

 

[TaxmanHog]

a lot of the EV sales in China are not actual sales to customers, but registrations by the manufacturers to claim the Chinese tax credit.

Tofu Dreg fraud is an epidemic in China, hence my fear of the quality of manufactured goods being sent to third world nations where regulation and standards are likewise compromised.

 

[Lightning Rod]

I for one, hope that they continue making the Lightning. This is the absolute best vehicle i have ever owned! I plan on driving this truck for 8 - 10 more years and I want ford to always have parts and service available for it for decades to come. My vehicle before my Lightning was an 07 F-150 XLT and I drove it for 17 years before selling it to my brother, who still drives it daily. I think that after this administration is dead and gone and not painting EVs in a bad light, the Lightning will continue to be made and loved by it's owners. It's just a great, well-built vehicle, imo.

 

[jjupi91897]

I for one, hope that they continue making the Lightning. This is the absolute best vehicle i have ever owned! I plan on driving this truck for 8 - 10 more years and I want ford to always have parts and service available for it for decades to come.

I plan to keep mine as long as possible.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...3/new-ford-recalls-nautilus-f150/84007954007/

 

[doggod]

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/2...arket-share-in-china-march-2025-sales-report/

here are the march figures in China

it gave me errors but still posted. sorry for the spam

 

[BlueLightning]

May 2025 year over year sales show a steep decline of 42% for the Lightning. Mach-E sales increased 11%. The E-Transit is down a whopping 97%. Anyone else getting nervous about the future of the Lightning?
https://electrek.co/2025/06/03/fords-ev-sales-fell-25-may-despite-employee-prices-more/

Yes, but it did outsell the Cybertruck

“From America, For America”

Ford Motor Company (2025).

Sponsored