Ford slashes costs of F-150 Lightning vehicles as EV battle with Tesla heats up

Ford Motor deepened a value battle within the electric-vehicle business on Monday by slashing the charges of its F-150 Lightning trucks, together with a 17% reduce for the bottom mannequin, because it goals to spice up its share of an EV market dominated by Tesla.

Shares of Ford had been down about 5%. Rival Normal Motors additionally fell about 3%, whereas EV maker Rivian was down about 3.8%.

The Detroit automaker, which had raised Lightning costs earlier this yr, stated it was capable of reduce costs on enhancements in scale and battery uncooked materials prices.

The transfer comes amid a value battle began by Tesla a number of months in the past, which has seen the EVs of legacy automakers piling up at dealers, as sales slow. Within the quarter by June, Ford’s EV gross sales fell 2.8%.

“Shortly after launching the F-150 Lightning, quickly rising materials prices, provide constraints and different elements drove up the price of the EV truck for Ford and our clients,” stated Marin Gjaja, chief buyer officer, Ford Mannequin e.

“We’ve continued to work within the background to enhance accessibility and affordability, to assist to decrease costs for our clients and shorten the wait instances for his or her new F-150 Lightning.”

Ford additionally stated it has briefly closed its Rouge Electrical Car Heart in Michigan to finish ultimate plant upgrades because it goals to triple the power’s annual run charge to 150,000 Lightning vehicles, starting this fall.

Battery uncooked materials costs have been one of many elements that pushed up EV costs. However costs of cobalt and lithium, essential for EV batteries, have declined. Analysts count on commodity prices to drop additional within the second half of the yr.

Ford has additionally strengthened its sourcing choices. Earlier this yr, it unveiled new provide offers for battery-grade lithium because the US automaker aimed to fulfill its goal of manufacturing 2 million EVs by 2026.

The corporate stated it had lowered the costs for all variants of the Lightning mannequin. The bottom Professional variant now carries a urged retail value of $49,995, in comparison with its prior value of $59,974, whereas the higher-end Platinum mannequin will value about 6.2% much less, at $91,995.