Ford will double its production schedule of the new 2022 F-150 Lightning electric pickup in the face of strong initial demand, the company confirmed early Tuesday. Ford says its new annual production target for the Lightning will be 150,000. Those who were first in line to reserve a 2022 model will soon be called upon to finalized their orders with their local dealers.
“F-150 Lightning moves to the final phase of pre-production as pickups roll off the line for real-world durability and high mileage testing ahead of customer deliveries this spring,” the company’s announcement said. “With nearly 200,000 reservations, our teams are working hard and creatively to break production constraints in order to get more F-150 Lightning trucks into the hands of our customers,” Ford executive Kumar Galhotra said.
The first wave of reservation holders will be able to finalize their 2022 Lightning orders starting Thursday, Ford said, with later reservation windows opening as each wave wraps up. Those who don’t have existing reservations but want to order a new Lightning will probably have to wait for at least the 2023 model year, but Ford assured them that the opportunity will present itself “in due course.”
The Blue Oval also recently announced that it was shunting resources from development of its Lincoln Aviator and Ford Explorer electric variants to bolster output of the Mustang Mach-E, which has seen persistent demand even after its initial reservations sold out. Introduction of the new all-electric Ford and Lincoln SUVs (neither of which the company has yet revealed) was reportedly pushed back by 18 months.
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Source: www.autoblog.com