Was Ars premature in calling the electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck the most important electric vehicle of the decade? At launch, it seemed like a no-brainer—an all-electric version of the nation’s most popular four-wheel vehicle that rode better than any other F-150 and a starting price of just $40,000 sure sounded compelling. In practice, things haven’t worked out quite that well. Today, we learned that F-150 Lighting prices are increasing for some trims, and others are being retired altogether.

When Ford first announced Lightning pricing in 2021, the range started at $39,974 for a Lightning Pro—the trim aimed at commercial customers—with the standard range battery, or $49,974 for the Lightning Pro with a larger battery capable of 300 miles of range. The F-150 Lightning XLT was the entry-level model for private customers, which originally cost $52,974, with more expensive Lariat and Platinum trims that topped out at $90,874.

But Ford raised those prices before too long, then raised them again. Coupled with a post-pandemic trend of outrageous additional dealer markups, this spelled bad news for F-150 Lightning sales—the entry-level F-150 Lightning Pro cost $59,974 by the middle of 2023, $20,000 more than the 2021 pricing. In July 2023, the automaker cut F-150 Lightning prices heavily, but prices remained significantly higher than at launch.

Now, the entry-level F-150 Pro with the standard range battery will start at $57,090, a $5,000 increase. And while some Ford dealers will sell Lightning Pros to private customers, most will only allow commercial fleet customers to order these models.

But the XLT gets an even stiffer price increase of more than $10,000, to $67,090. And there’s no longer an option to spec the XLT trim truck with the larger capacity battery. Nor the standard-range Lariat trim, although Ford has prepared a new “Flash” trim that slots between the XLT and Lariat, and retails at $75,590. On the high end, Ford has cut between $5,000–$7,000 from the F-150 Lightning Platinum for 2024.

Overall production of the F-150 Lightning is also falling short of Ford’s earlier predictions—last month, the carmaker told suppliers it was halving its planned production rate from 3,200 trucks a week to 1,600 trucks a week in 2024.

“The F-150 Lightning is America’s best-selling electric pickup after a record fourth quarter, and demand continues to grow,” a Ford spokesperson told Automotive News. “We are making adjustments to pricing, production and trim packages to achieve the optimal mix of sales growth, profitability, and customer access to the IRA tax benefit.”

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1993462