Ford Motor Company confirmed that reservations for the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck have surpassed 160,000, less than six months after its debut.
The U.S. automaker has been accepting $100 refundable reservations for the vehicle since its unveiling. Ford has seen a high level of consumer interest, bagging 20,000 reservations on the first day, 44,000 by the end of the second day and 120,000 by the end of June.
In a second-quarter earnings call in June, CEO Jim Farley said that nearly 75% of those customers were new to Ford.
He added that around 40% of people were planning on trading in an internal combustion engine truck, which “it indicates a move a little bit faster to full-size truck [battery electric vehicles] than maybe our optimistic assumptions,” he said.
In response to the reservation figures, the automaker said it would earmark an additional $250 million and bolster its workforce by 450 to increase the annual production capacity of the Lightning. The trucks will go on sale to customers in spring 2022.
The Lightning, which will be available in four trims, is a critical part of the automaker’s strategy to transition a greater portion of its fleet to electric. Ford is joining newer entrants like Rivian — which rolled its first R1T truck off the production line in September — in taking aim at the pickup truck segment. The F-150 is the best-selling truck in America. Ford reported it had sold 787,422 F-series trucks in 2020.
The base version of the Lightning will start at $39,974, while the midseries XLT model will start at $52,974, both excluding taxes.
