Ford will produce 150,000 F-150 Lightning electric trucks per year.
In mid-February, a battery problem caused one of its electric trucks to catch fire outside the plant, forcing the company to halt production of the F-150 Lightning, but Ford is confident the problem will be resolved and on Friday announced plans to ramp up production significantly. [Production of the F-150 Lightning is scheduled to resume on March 13, and will then be ramped up to 150,000 units per year (three times the current production) by the end of 2023.
Only 15,617 units were sold in 2022, but 200,000 units were reserved when the company stopped taking new reservations at the end of 2021. However, Ford has raised the price of the Lightning three times since its initial launch, and many of these reservations were made before the price increase. The base Lightning is currently priced at $57,869, 38.9% higher than when it was first launched.
This is the second time Ford has decided to increase production of the F-150 Lightning; when it was first unveiled in May 2021, Ford projected annual demand of about 40,000 units. Then, when pre-production began the following September, Ford doubled its forecast to 80,000 units per year.
Increased production in the auto industry is particularly tricky at this time due to shortages of key components and other transportation bottlenecks. Ford said it is working with suppliers such as SK On, which supplies Lightning's batteries, to increase component production capacity.
Production of the F-150 Lightning takes place at Ford's Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, which has produced Ford pickups since 1948.
The Lightning is not the only Ford EV to see increased production. Ford's Mustang Mach E is also proving to be a hit in the market. Ford announced Friday that it will begin increasing production of the crossover at its Cuautitlán plant in Mexico, with the goal of producing 210,000 units annually by the end of 2023.
Ford also announced Friday that it will hire additional staff in April at its Kansas City, Missouri plant to support increased production of the Transit and E-Transit vans. Ford's goal is to increase the combined annual production of both vans to 38,000 units by the end of 2023.
