Ford has solely been delivering the F-150 Lightning for a couple of months, however the truck has already seen a steep worth enhance. In August, the automaker boosted costs by important quantities throughout the board, with some trims seeing as a lot as an $8,500 bounce. Now, Ford’s growing the Lightning’s price once more, and the bottom Professional mannequin isn’t trying so inexpensive anymore.
The excellent news is that present reservation holders gained’t be affected by the just about 11 p.c enhance in base pricing for the truck. The dangerous information is that the Lightning Professional now begins at almost $52,000, a far cry from the shockingly moderately sub-$40,000 price ticket Ford initially pitched. The highest-end Lightning Platinum now begins at round $97,000, round a 5 p.c enhance from the 2022 mannequin 12 months.
Worth will increase are irritating for consumers and make automakers look dangerous, however Ford doesn’t have a lot selection if it desires to take care of revenue margins on new vehicles. Every part is dearer, and international provide chains aren’t working at full tilt because of battle, COVID-19, and different components. The challenges are particularly acute for electrical autos as a result of uncooked battery supplies like lithium and cobalt costs have doubled within the final couple of years.
Ford is hardly the one automaker with EV manufacturing price woes. Tesla has raised costs a number of instances, with some fashions including hundreds to their backside line. Earlier this 12 months, CEO Elon Musk mentioned inflation had turn out to be worse than anticipated and famous that he believed the challenges would proceed by 2022.
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