New Ford Lightning Pricing

The two biggest real-world issues with the 2022 electric Ford lightning was that it’s 1) generally unavailable. And 2) generally overpriced. Ok fine – an EV truck is a new endeavor utilizing new technology, there will understandably be some issues. But the fact remains, if a truck buyer gets a wild hair & wants to go test drive a new Lightning… that wild hair is plucked before it can ever become a purchase. And while the base work-truck 2022 Ford Lightning seemed to start at a pretty reasonable $39,900. In reality, seeing one at a dealership in person almost assured you would also see an obscene, greedy, & arrogant dealer markup. In some cases a whopping 100% over MSRP… making a $70,000 Ford Lightning $140,000.

But FINALLY, all that pricing nonsense is water under the bridge…

Because Ford’s getting ready to open up orders/reservations for the 2023 model Ford Lightning. And the prices are uhhhh… hmmmmm…. weird… even more expensive?! Significantly more expensive actually. About $8,000 more. And keep in mind, that’s an $8,000 increase within 1-model-year period… during a year when Ford halted sales didn’t start deliveries until May. So honestly 1-year is generous. And coincidentally (or not) – that $8,000 is juuuuuust about hmmm…. the same amount as the new $7,500 tax credits just announced for EV purchases. To put that in Owen Wilson’s words, “Wow.”

For 2023, the base model Lightning goes from ~$40,000 to almost $47,000.

And the top-of-the-line Platinum Extended Range Lightning is now just a few grand shy of $100,000. *Before markups. Which leaves my mind a little scrambled. Because if the desire to buy an EV Lighting stems from fuel cost savings, that makes about as much sense as tits on a bull. And likewise, I can’t figure how it’s green to push around 6,000lbs worth of metal & battery that will be obsolete in under a decade. It seems like the prices of EVs are going to have to start going down (not up), or people will start tuning-out the EV hype no matter how fantastically manipulated it gets. Orders for the 2023 Ford Lightning open-up on 8/11.