Ford just announced that the reservations for its brand new F-150 Lightning model just passed 160,000 units, blowing past the most optimistic forecasts in the industry. The first-ever fully electric F-150 truck is seemingly in such a high demand, the Dearborn manufacturer will have a tough time keeping up with the production side of things.
To make matters even worse, the worldwide chip shortage every industry is feeling right now is definitely not going to help. The 160,000 mark was hit late last month and that means that, just in the month of October, there were over 10,000 orders placed for an F-150 Lightning, compared to the numbers reported by Ford in September.
To get a better grasp of how the reservations piled on, Ford published a list that goes like this:
20,000 in 12 hours (May 20)
44,500 in 48 hours (May 21)
70,000 in about 8 days (May 27)
100,000 in about three weeks (June 9)
120,000 in over two months (July 28)
130,000 in over three months (September 2)
150,000 in about four months (September 16)
160,000 in over five months (November 3)
Considering Ford has a planned production for the initial batch of just 15,000 units for 2022, you can imagine when the rest of the customers will get their cars. Furthermore, the production for 2023 is expected to be around 55,000 units so if your reservation is number 160,000, you’ll probably have to wait until 2025 to get one.
Of course, things can change and Ford might make arrangements to increase the allocated slots for the electric pick-up over the next few years. Furthermore, not all reservations will turn into orders and we’ll have to wait and see just how many of the people who expressed their interest in the F-150 Lightning will actually follow through. The ordering books will open in December so you might want to get your checkbook ready if you want one.
