It’s been a few weeks since we rung the “Sorry, we’re out of that” bell. This time it’s Ford’s turn — again — letting dealers know in a letter this week that the 2022 F-150 Lightning Pro and F-150 Lightning XLT are sold out for the year for retail customers. Reservations for the battery-electric pickup exceeded expectations, with the automaker forced to stop taking names after 200,000 people signed up in just a few months. Fleet orders came in so hot that Ford closed that order book in January. For anyone else trying to get into the silent hauling game this year, the $69,269 Lariat and $92,669 Platinum are the only options left. That means spending at least $14,500 more than XLT with the standard range battery before incentives, and $27,500 more than the Pro, which was only available with the standard range battery for retail customers.
As for retail, CarsDirect said the manufacturer’s bulletin advised that the door might not have closed completely on 2022 reservation holders. Ford wrote that “as commodities become available, future invitations for currently sold-out models” could be sent to those who extended their reservation to the following model year. But Ford Authority reported that the automaker thinks 80% of those who have already reserved will end up buying, so orders are already being pushed to 2023. With a few automakers already saying they expect the chip crisis to plague us into 2024 — about two years longer than predictions from six months ago — it feels hugely optimistic to say there’s even a razor-thin chance of getting a 2022 F-150 Lightning Pro or XLT for those who have had their reservations pushed back.
Ford’s consumer F-150 Lightning configurator still shows all models able to be configured and doesn’t display any info about wait times, so contact your local dealer for confirmation. But in this age of markups, showing up at a dealer with a Brinks truck and grabbing anything off the lot might be the only way to go until order books for 2023 open.
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Source: www.autoblog.com