Ford Motor Company announced this week that it has temporarily halted shipments of its highly anticipated F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck to conduct additional quality control inspections.
The pause in Lightning shipments began on February 9th and is expected to last several weeks, according to Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg. She declined to specify any particular quality issue, saying it is common practice to do routine quality holds when transitioning to a new model year. Ford recently began shipping the 2024 model year of its gas-powered F-150, the perennially best-selling pickup in America.
While concerning customers awaiting their pre-ordered Lightnings, Ford emphasized that this should not significantly impact deliveries. “Dealers already have trucks in their inventory ready for sale,” Bergg noted. By contrast, a similar quality hold last February idled Lightning production for weeks and left the automaker playing catch-up to fulfill reservations.
Ford views the Lightning as vital to leading America’s transition to electric vehicles (EVs), along with the Mustang Mach-E SUV. It sold around 40,000 Mach-Es last year and about 24,000 Lightnings. This pales in comparison to the 750,000 gas-powered F-150s sold, on which Ford still relies for profits.
CEO Jim Farley recently disclosed Ford has a dedicated team working on future EV engineering and design.
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