Ford Drops Price of its Electric F-150 Lightning by up to 10K

­With Tesla’s Cybertruck right around the corner, Ford is making aggressive moves to retain some of the electric light-duty truck market.

Owing to various factors, Ford is reducing the price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup by up to $10,000.

According to the company, increased plant capacity, continued work on scaling production and cost, and improving battery raw material costs made the vehicle reduction possible.

“Shortly after launching the F-150 Lightning, rapidly rising material costs, supply constraints and other factors drove up the cost of the EV truck for Ford and our customers,” said Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer, Ford Model e. “We’ve continued to work in the background to improve accessibility and affordability to help to lower prices for our customers and shorten the wait times for their new F-150 Lightning.”

Course, the imminent arrival of…a huge rival, and Ford’s increasing desperation, almost certainly played a role, too.

The F-150 Lightning’s 240-320 mile range and up to 580 hp (430 kW) and 10,000-lb towing capacity are quite impressive, but Tesla’s Cybertruck allegedly tops those figures, with up to a 620 mile electric range, 805 hp (600 kW), and 15,000 lb towing capacity.

The only divisive part of the latter, other than Musk’s personal reputation, is the Cybertruck’s…unique look. It kinda resembles a paint-by-numbers, Sci-Fi, futuristic vehicle, and that alone could dissuade buyers.

After all, aesthetics do matter to vehicle buyers – often more than objective specs.

And then there’s the price difference. Even with the cost reduction, the lowest-end F-150 Lightning is still about 10K more than the Cybertruck’s starting price.

Musk, himself, weighed in, saying that “The Ford Lightning is a good vehicle, just somewhat expensive, especially given the high-interest rates these days for any kind of loan.”

The Cybertruck is scheduled for delivery in Q3 2023.