Due to soaring demand, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) will spend an additional $850 million to double the production of its F-150 Lightning. The full-seized electric pickup truck is planned to launch in 2022.
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Increasing Output
As Ford shares jumped 1.3% on Monday, the firm has set sights on doubling the production of its long-awaited model from an initial target of 40,000 units to 80,000 units come 2024, as reported by Reuters.
An anonymous source told the news agency: “They were pleasantly surprised by the demand for the Lightning.”
Industry experts have been skeptical about individual customers dropping their gas-powered pick-ups in favor of electric ones. However, the push for EV adoption comes from the soaring demand of commercial buyers looking to reduce their carbon footprints.
“The ramp to the new production target includes plans to build about 15,000 next year after the electric truck's spring launch and 55,000 in 2023,” Reuters reports.
“Following the launch of the second-generation Lightning in late 2025, the annual target is just shy of 160,000. The increase is on top of the 50% boost Ford outlined last November, the sources said.”
Betting Hard On EVs
This is certainly good news for the car manufacturer. In a press release, the company said: “We are excited with customer demand for the F-150 Lightning and already have 120,000 customer reservations, and we will continue to look for ways to break constraints and meet customer demand.”
The electric pick-up truck segment is heating up, as General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), along with startups Lordstown Motors Corp(NASDAQ:RIDE), Canoo Inc (NASDAQ:GOEV), and Ford-backed Rivian are planning on stellar launches next year.
Earlier this month, Ford announced it would be investing more on electric vehicles than on internal combustion engines, increasing budget to $30 billion by 2025 –almost a third more.
A company executive said at the time during a Barclay’s bank event: “We've been over the moon about the success of Mach-E, and the F-150 Lightning, by bringing in over 70% new customers to the Ford brand.”
Ford’s move to double its factory output for the F-150 goes in line with U.S. President Joe Biden’s call for $174 billion to increase EV production, sales, and infrastructure.
Ford is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders’ families.
