Ford’s electric pickup hits yet another stumbling block

Deliveries of the Ford F-150 Lightning – an electric version of the best-selling vehicle in the US – have been halted indefinitely, becoming the latest bump in the road for the once highly-anticipated model.

Reuters reports Ford has ordered a delivery pause on the F-150 Lightning from its Detroit factory, owing to an unspecified quality issue with the electric pickup.

Earlier this month, Ford CEO Jim Farley said he regretted not getting on top of the brand’s notorious quality issues sooner after taking the top job in 2020.

The paused rollout follows what has been a tumultuous three years for the F-150 Lightning since it was first unveiled by Ford in early 2021.

Ford’s electric pickup hits yet another stumbling block

Launching as the second electric pickup in the US – shortly after the Rivian R1T – Ford soon increased its production plans for the F-150 Lightning in the wake of high demand following first deliveries in 2022.

However, buyers soon started to turn away from the pickup, resulting in multiple subsequent production plan cuts to ensure oversupply was reduced.

In January, it was announced there will be just one shift a day working at the Ford F-150 Lightning’s production facility, down from the peak of three shifts when demand was at its highest.

Approximately 1600 F-150 Lightnings are built every week, working out to about 83,000 examples annually – far from Ford’s peak prediction of 150,000 yearly sales.

A left-hand drive F-150 Lightning has previously been spotted in Melbourne, though Ford has remained coy on its plans to bring the electric pickup to local showrooms.

Reuters also reports US deliveries of the facelifted petrol-powered F-150 are due to begin shortly, following the updated pickup’s reveal last year.

While production of the 2024 Ford F-150 began in December, the company only planned to start US deliveries in late February or early March, telling the publication it is running on schedule.

F-150 facelift

As previously reported, the updated Ford F-150 marks a first for the company, with US buyers offered the choice for the pickup’s base 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine to adopt hybrid power for no additional cost.

At present, the Ford F-150 is only sold in Australia with its non-hybrid 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 engine, and all examples are the pre-facelifted model which launched overseas in 2020 but only arrived locally late last year.

Ford Australia has previously said it plans to introduce the facelifted F-150 before the end of 2024.

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