It looks like Ford’s EV division is facing some serious setbacks.
A March projection for investors revealed the subsidiary expects to lose close to $3 billion by end-of-year, though Ford finance chief John Lawler dismissed the losses as nothing more than the cost of doing business for the EV division, which he describes as a startup within the company.
A recent spate of F-150 Lightning purchase cancellations may be a bit more of a cause for concern for company management, however.
According to a Ford dealership sales manager, buyers’ confidence in the vehicle has been falling in recent weeks due to price increases.
The vehicle’s original price announced in 2021 was $39,975, according to The Verge.
Today, the price is $59,974, almost exactly $20,000 more than Ford initially promised.
“What we’re seeing is that we are having a lot of customers just canceling theirs,” Bartz, who works at Long McArthur Ford in Salina, Kansas, told The Verge on Tuesday.
“Ford advertised a $40,000 electric vehicle, and that attracted a lot of people. Now we’ve seen price increases, and those people are like, ‘I’m out.’”
“Customers tell me that they were looking to get in at that $40,000 truck, but now that’s $60,000, and you can’t even get that truck since they’re sold out of them. Now you’ll have to pay $65,000 minimum; that’s just a whole different level.”
Of the 135 preorders for the vehicle overseen by Bartz at Long McArthur Ford, 40 had been canceled.
Martin Gunsberg, the Ford Model e-communications director, sent the following message to The Verge in regard to the price hike.
“F-150 Lightning pricing was first announced in May 2021 and in the two years since then, we have adjusted price due to significant material cost increases, market factors, and supply chain constraints,” he wrote.
Social media posts going back months indicate customers have been canceling their F-150 Lightning reservations for some time now.
First world problem, but I had to cancel my F-150 Lightning reservation due to massive (and I mean MASSIVE) price hikes and lack of heat pump on the battery. “Oh, you lose half your range when it’s cold outside!”
Way to botch it, Mr. Ford.
Maybe next time. pic.twitter.com/3j7xcrHzpo
— Rawrb (@rawrb) March 31, 2023
“First world problem, but I had to cancel my F-150 Lightning reservation due to massive (and I mean MASSIVE) price hikes… Way to botch it, Mr. Ford,” one Twitter user wrote in late March.
Dropping my Ford lightning reservation
by u/queens_level_3 in BoltEV
“The Lightning was my real dream car, especially at the original advertised bar price of 39k. Today they finally offered me the chance to place an order against my reservation from 2021. Lowest model available starts at 63k! You’ve got to be kidding me…” another former Ford customer wrote on Reddit.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.