Ford’s first electric pickup is far from flaunting its under-$40,000 starting price.
The 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning starts at $51,974 [excluding a destination charge] as of this month on its base Pro model. When the Lightning pickup debuted last year it featured a $39,974 option for its commercial customer vehicle.
In an email statement Ford cited supply chain issues and increasing material costs for the price bump on its base model. The price increase won’t affect existing reservation holders.
Lightning pricing was previously announced in August with higher prices for 2023 with the Pro starting at $46,974. Now that price has been pushed up again, less than two months later.
The newest Lightning features better standard range up to 240 miles, up from 230 miles. There are also two new colors: Avalanche Gray and Azure Gray metallic tri-coat, which will replace Atlas Blue, Ice Blue Silver and Smoked Quartz Metallic.
Across the Lightning lineup there have been increases for 2023, though none as drastic as on the Pro trim:
- The XLT starts at $59,474, up from $52,974
- Lariat starts at $74,474, an increase from 2022’s $67,474
- Top-trim Platinum starts at $96,874, a boost from $90,874
The extended range battery option on the XLT and higher trims still is a hefty add-on for nearly 100 more miles of range. It tacks on over $20,000 on the XLT, up only slightly to its 2022 pricing. The Lariat extended range version is an additional $11,500.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford’s electric SUV, also announced higher starting prices for its 2023 models.
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Sasha Lekach is a San Francisco native who got her start covering breaking news in the Bay Area. Before joining Forbes Wheels, she was on the electric and autonomous vehicles beat as Mashable's transportation reporter. With a master's of journalism from UC Berkeley and an undergrad degree from UC Davis, she's both California and news obsessed. You can usually find her reading, surfing, eating and traveling or on Twitter at @sashajol.
Published: Oct 7, 2022
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
Ford has only been delivering the F-150 Lightning for a few months, but the truck has already seen a steep price increase. In August, the automaker boosted prices by significant amounts across the board, with some trims seeing as much as an $8,500 jump. Now, Ford’s increasing the Lightning’s cost again, and the base Pro model isn’t looking so affordable anymore.
The good news is that current reservation holders won’t be affected by the almost 11 percent increase in base pricing for the truck. The bad news is that the Lightning Pro now starts at nearly $52,000, a far cry from the shockingly reasonably sub-$40,000 price tag Ford initially pitched. The top-end Lightning Platinum now starts at around $97,000, around a five percent increase from the 2022 model year.
Price increases are frustrating for buyers and make automakers look bad, but Ford doesn’t have much choice if it wants to maintain profit margins on new trucks. Everything is more expensive, and global supply chains aren’t operating at full tilt due to war, COVID-19, and other factors. The challenges are especially acute for electric vehicles because raw battery materials like lithium and cobalt prices have doubled in the last couple of years.
Ford is hardly the only automaker with EV production cost woes. Tesla has raised prices multiple times, with some models adding thousands to their bottom line. Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk said inflation had become worse than expected and noted that he believed the challenges would continue through 2022.
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