Friday? More like Fri-YAY, am I right? I invented that phrase, so you cannot use it without paying me royalties. But that’s not important right now; what’s important is the Car News. And today that includes the Ford F-150 Lightning’s comeback, the EV tax credit rules changing (again), the new “Euro 7” rules are putting the screws to automakers and Hyundai is doing even more to stop dance-video teens from stealing its cars.
Lightning Strikes Again, But You’ll Pay More For It Now
First, the good news: the F-150 Lightning is back in full production after a February battery fire halted things while an investigation was completed. That’s great; demand remains high for Ford’s first EV truck and customers can’t get them fast enough.
Now, the bad news: with this move comes more price increases for the Lightning, making it far less of the everyperson EV truck bargain it started out as last year. Here’s Automotive News with the context, emphasis mine:
Ford is again increasing the price of some models of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup, with the base model now starting at $61,869, including shipping— up about 50 percent over the initial starting price when the truck launched in April 2022.
[…] The automaker said the price for the Lariat standard range model will jump from $76,369 to $77,869, while the Platinum model will jump from $98,769 to $99,969. All prices include a $1,895 shipping charge.
You will recall that when the Lightning debut, it made headlines for being this extremely capable EV truck that started at just around $41,000 with tons of features its competitors didn’t have. It is no longer such an extreme bargain, especially on the entry-level model.
Granted, the average new truck price is about $60,000 anyway, so Ford would probably argue this is par for the course with what people actually buy. Here’s Motor Trend on this history of price increases, if you need it:
The Pro is the only model affected by the new pricing. Those previous price increases raised the truck’s MSRP from its initial—and staggering—tab of just $41,769 to $48,769 and then to $53,769. With the next shift in December 2022, the Pro then started at $57,869, and with this latest MSRP shift in March 2023, that rises by $4,000 to $61,869. So, if you thought that August and October’s combined $12,000 increase was staggering, or that December’s widened the gap from the original price tag to $16,100, well, sit down, because this month’s change means the Pro is $20,100 more expensive than when it launched last year.
The EV Tax Credit Rules Are Changing, Again
Speaking of EVs, we’ve spent a lot of time around here explaining the revised EV tax credit scheme—and diving into how confusing it is. Guess what, kids? It’s about to get even more confusing. That’s because the IRS is implementing the new rules around mineral sourcing and battery construction that it said it would move on last year.
In brief: the new, full $7,500 tax credit used to be only available to EVs produced in North America. Now, after April 18, those cars must also meet certain “critical mineral” requirements and have their batteries be built here as well. As a result, fewer EVs will qualify for the tax credit for now.
Here’s Reuters on why this is happening:
The rules are aimed at weaning the United States off dependence on China for EV battery supply chains and part of President Joe Biden’s effort to make 50% of U.S. new vehicle sales by 2030 EVs or plug-in hybrids.
[…] U.S. officials acknowledge some vehicles will see credits cut or eliminated. Tesla said Wednesday the Model 3 rear-wheel drive credit will be reduced as a result of the guidance. The government will publish by April 18 a revised list of qualifying models and tax credit amounts.
Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella said in a statement his best guess is “few” EVs on the market will qualify for the full $7,500 credit after April 17. He noted the requirement EVs be assembled in North America to qualify for any credit eliminated 70% of models.
“Some EVs will certainly qualify for a partial credit. Given the constraints of the legislation, Treasury’s done as well as it could to produce rules that meet the statute and reflect the current market,” Bozzella said.
Long-term, these rules will cut China off at the knees (and indeed, no car with a battery from a “foreign entity of concern” will ever qualify for tax credits, and guess who that’s aimed at.) But in the short-term, it will make a lot of EVs more expensive. After all, it’s not like anyone can set up a battery factory and mineral supply chain infrastructure overnight. Even Ford’s big new battery plant won’t start making things until 2026.
Additionally, automakers are still figuring all of this out. No one has a full list of which cars are impacted yet and how much they’ll cost; the Treasury Department is expected to post that on April 18. We’ll update you as soon as we know what’s up.
I wrote a longer thing about this today for the climate news website Heatmap if you’re interested, but my main point is this: if you’ve had your eye on a certain EV and were factoring in the $7,500 tax credit, buy it before April 18 if you can. Now is the time to score the best deal possible.
Euro 7’s Gonna Hurt
European Union countries and lawmakers will negotiate “Euro 7” proposals this year on tighter limits for car emissions – for diesel cars, but not petrol – and for heavy-duty trucks and buses, including nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide.
The rules would also cover tire and brake emissions.
Executives including Stellantis (STLAM.MI) CEO Carlos Tavares say the rules are “useless” while carmakers invest tens of billions of euros in electric vehicles (EVs) and start phasing out fossil-fuel cars.
Mattias Johansson, Volvo Cars’ (VOLCARb.ST) head of governmental affairs, told Reuters the 2025 deadline left “practically no reasonable lead time” to make engine changes and lacks details on testing procedures. Volvo has committed to being fully electric by 2030.
Brake and tire emissions, too! I wonder how the supplier companies are gonna deal with that one. Anyway, it’s worth remembering that automakers always kick and scream when this stuff happens, then say they can’t do it, then they do it. But balancing these requirements with the massive investments into EVs will be an especially onerous challenge.
Hyundai, Kia Giving Out Steering Wheel Locks Too
Your Turn
Now that Ford knows for sure there’s demand for an EV pickup, they’re getting as much per unit as they can while they’re the only player currently* delivering them to customers.
* No pun intended, but I’ll claim credit for leaving it in.
Why leave money on the table?
Man this whole HOA shit is turning car ownership into a fuckin car HOA with Biden being the worlds biggest fucking Karen.
Really? A Karen? Please tell me you do this as parody. You can’t honestly be serious with this.
“making it far less of the everyperson EV truck”
That statement just triggers me for some reason. Like what the hell is an “everyperson” truck? “Everyperson” should be driving a truck? What a sad place…
dork
the maverick is an everyperson truck
Ford said the price changes are a result of “
current material costs, market factors and supply chain constraintsgreed.”Isn’t Strikeout fun? 😀
Hey if anyone still made cars peopke could save 30 to 40 thousand dollars and the rebate.
Sure Jan.
Is the Lightning Pro a good deal?
In a vacuum, probably not.
In comparison to trucks in general that are all surprisingly expensive? It’s arguably still a decent deal if it works with your use case.
$52,500 ($60k – tax credit) gets you a Supercrew 4×4 with 452hp/775tq, cheaper “fuel” if you have home charging, frunk, power outlets in the bed/frunk, LED headlights/taillights, much better infotainment than expected in a “work truck”, etc.
To get a comparably-equipped and not-quite-as powerful gas F-150 XL (also the work truck trim) would cost ~$50k.
Obviously, if you need to do a bunch of long distance towing, gas is the way to go, but if not, the fuel savings will have you breaking even in under 3 years and you’ve got the convenience of home charging and great street performance, etc.
It’s not for everyone, but it’s a good deal for the right use case relative to other trucks. Obviously, it was an insane deal $20k ago. $40k (before tax credit!) doesn’t get you much in a new truck, now. In fact, after tax credit, it was cheaper than the absolute cheapest F-150. A regular cab XL 2WD with an N/A V6 and zero options is $34k, now.
I don’t know what Ford was thinking when they first released pricing. Did they assume that they would sell at a loss to drum up business and then the price of batteries would magically drop and they could make profit?
They assumed that they would get a ton of publicity for the $40k price by making JUST the base trim exceptionally cheap. Then, they would artificially limit the number of them that were available, and mostly sell Lariats. Then, they’d keep increasing the price of the base trim until is was in line with the normal difference in price between trims.
Maybe assumed it would take a year or two before they could build one that wasnt a POS?
I’m still trying to figure out if this is the times we live in or the technology… Prior to ~5 years ago, you NEVER heard of a car’s price going up at any point in the year. The prices were what the prices were, by-and-large. But, now that they are selling electric vehicles, it seems they can take the liberty to change the prices at whim. I suppose they always could have, but didn’t. I, personally, don’t like it. Items like this should have a stable price, as the “time to table” of them is quite large, versus that of gasoline or eggs.
Ford needs to grow a pair and sell that boat anchor for 100 grand.
Its the whole artificial government deciding need EVs. Picking winners as they pick their nose.
Dude, just stop.
So Mann+Hummel, the worlds largest manufacturer of automotive filtration products, headquartered in Germany, invents a brake dust filter. And then the EU mandates emissions limits for brakes. What a coincidence.
Now let’s talk about Dupont’s patent on Freon expiring….
…Or prescription drug patents..
To be fair,the EU could have been waiting for such a thing.
“At last someone has invented a solution!We can now fix that problem”
Brake and tire dust are real causes for concern in densely populated areas, if your lawmakers actually care about the quality and length of life of their constituents.
That’s a big difference between the US and Europe. The US writes rules that value the rural population far more than the urban populations, while Europe writes rules that favor the urban population more than the rural.
I would bet that the EU regulators are also trying to encourage greater use of regenerative braking.
The F-150 as a concept it is good, take an well know vehicle and put out an EV. What my other choices? Hummer? Rivan? Cybertruk (hehehehhehe)? There are more coming from Nissan, Chevy, GMC…
Is it a good deal? Need for that one option to say.
I mean a V8 power 4X4 LT work truck (2 Doors the only option here if you are not a fleet manager) can be had with tow package for $44K according to the configurator, a 4 door which makes these thing decidedly less work trucky to most is (which is the pro model in Lightning terms) not configurable until you get into the Lariat version. and that one does get you up in the 60K range quick. I suppose I would be happier to have better priced actual WT options here.
Ford should make the lightning a unibody and shave a thousand pounds off. The daisies buying those trucks aren’t hauling jack.
the Pro Models are definitely going to fleets, and I have some with ladder racks and toppers now, but yeah they probably will not be laden down with much.
Actually the only one I’ve seen on the road – as opposed to a dealer lot – was driven by an electrical contract and was fully fitted out with work stuff.
Is the Lightning a good deal, you’re one day early for jokes aren’t you?
Until the tax credit gets taken off at the point of sale I’m not even concerning myself with the rules.
The Lightning is really the only EV truck you can buy right now, so it’s hard to say if it’s a good deal or not. There are three new ones in my city I could buy today if I didn’t mind paying over MSRP. The Rivian R1T is technically available but is very rare at the moment. The current estimated delivery is “fall 2023”.
If Tesla;
They will eat Ford’s lunch for the non-brand loyal EV truck buyers. But I also expect Cybertruck sales to nosedive after 1-2 years once the novelty wears off and the traditional OEMs launch more traditional looking EV trucks.
If you think all of that’s going to happen I have some beachfront property in South Dakota that you’d find very appealing
LOL, nope. That’s why I said “If Tesla” and not “When Tesla”.
The whole IRA may get bounced or held up when Joe from WV sues to stop it. Wasnt there another Joe the Plummer from WV?
Unfortunately the Lightning is also fairly rare. 15,617 F-150 Lightnings in 2022 vs Rivian which produced 24,337 in 2022. perhaps there are more or less of each since, but I think Rivians are more concentrated in larger more affluent metropolis areas and the Lightings are partially hitting fleets recently so they are being seen more often in the wild.
I’ve seen one Rivian in my town and several Lightnings. It does appear to be geographically skewed. I’m in a mid-sized midwest city in the heart of truck country.
Boston area here. I’ve seen two R1-Ts, but probably about a dozen F-150 Lightnings, including FOUR in my neighborhood (within a 5-minute walk).
Southwest of you. I see Rivians daily, and Lightnings about once a week. Harder to spot the Lightning though too.
Now granted I live in an outdoorsy coastal city which may skew the sample a bit, but I have seen quite a few more Rivians than I have F-150 Lightnings around town. And with the price being basically the same for a decently optioned model, I think I would take the Rivian as well.
No one will ever buy a Cybertruck because it’s not a real product. Just part of the stock-price manipulating hype machine.
I live in a city directly abutting Boston. The number of contractors in my area buying Lightnings is off-the-chain. Dealers are nowhere near meeting demand.
Especially with the old housing stock, something they very much love is the fact that when they go to a home with ZERO external outlets, it’s a total non-issue — just run extension cord from the truck.
Tons of them around me (plus a few Rivians, but those seem to be used as conveyances), and fleets are starting to pick them up as well. I’m yet to see one towing some equipment, but I figure it’s just a matter of time before I start seeing that — travel distance to a job site around here is very short, so range is a complete non-issue.
What’s Tom Silva buying? He’s the only Boston area contractor I trust.
Tom’s about 20-ish miles northwest of me in a town where the ASP for a home has been north of $1M for forever. If I happen to be up there and run into him, I’ll ask for you.
Tom drives GMC the official sponsor of This Old House.
Didnt the old TOH host get sued for faulty work and failed promises? What was his name? Bob Villa?
Come on they had that problem since tea was dumped in the bay. They have a million different power generators available. This isnt a new idea.
The $40k Cybertruck is not happening. That was for the RWD version that was put on the backburner, officially, just days after the Cybertruck was announced.
I think the people who still believe the Cybertruck isn’t going to happen at all are like the people who think Trump is still going to “stop the steal” and regain the Presidency, but the $40k version isn’t happening.
If they can do it for $40k they will have a winner with everything else at $100k plus
The Lightning XLT with extended pack is probably going to see more sales with the shrinking gap between it and the Pro. I’m kind of surprised they haven’t just phased out the Pro for retail.
When GM brings out the Silverado EV, they’ll likely pull the same stunts to get people into the model they actually want to sell.
I’d say they effectively have phased the Pro out for retail. It’s been “sold out” for 2023 since August 2022, and even the people who ordered in August ’22 were people who were invited to actually order for MY2022 in early ’22 but specifically told Ford they were postponing their order for a Pro.
So, effectively, no one has been able to order a retail Pro except people who were invited to order in early 2022.
No, it isn’t a good deal. It’s a terrible deal and this is just more shameless corporate behavior. It’s all bullshit and I’m exhausted with the WOE IS US, THE SUPPLY CHAIN AND MATERIAL SHORTAGES MAKE OUR LIVES SO HARD! We’re SO sorry…I hope you don’t mind that we pass the costs into you consumers and your median income of $68,000.
This level of greed is creating a bubble in the car market that’s similar to the housing market before the 2008 crash. They’re hiking prices to the stratosphere because they can, normal people are taking out the manufacturer’s ludicrously bad loans to be able to afford the cars, and nearly everyone is going to wind up underwater because cars are depreciating assets.
This WILL implode in the next couple of years, if not months…and it’s going to be disastrous for the consumers, the companies, and the economy. Ford, Dodge, etc. might be sitting pretty on all the $70,000 trucks they’ve sold on 96 month loans at 13% interest, but when everyone is stretched as thin as they are right now it’s not going to be sustainable.
The bubble will pop, prices will dip catastrophically, Ford et al will be begging for more government handouts when they’re left with tens of thousands of repossessed vehicles they greedily charged 70k for that are now worth 25, and what will we learn? Nothing at all, unfortunately.
Just a reminder that families with $68K incomes are not the ones buying new trucks, that the people who are buying are far less sensitive to price increases (at least in the sense of being crippled by them), and that unemployment/labor force participation are very strong, meaning fewer people are going to have an unexpected situation where they can’t pay their note.
This era of high rates and limited discounting will pass. We will see price wars and truck month again. But I don’t think the current situation is dangerous, or implies a bubble. I don’t think MSRPs will drop in a nominal sense. The inflation of the 2020s is baked in. But so is the income growth.
I don’t think I can post links, but based on data from NADA, Cox Auto, and Hedges & Co, the median household buying a new SUV makes $75k on the dot, and slightly lower for pickups. The median is slowly crawling upwards as the bottom falls out.
The average/mean new vehicle buyer makes around $124k, and I believe the outsized economic influence of luxury buyers is the primary cause of price increases in the automotive industry.
But for now, it’s perfectly reasonable to say a $68k home is buying a new pickup. A little under half of new pickup sales go to homes making that mich or less.
Interesting and surprising to me. I’ll revise my statement to suggest median income buyers likely aren’t looking at $60,000 Lightnings.
If they are looking at a new pickup truck, it isn’t too far away. Just did a cars.com search for F-150 XLTs, most are over $50k.
They are probably buying Mavericks and Frontiers.
Idk, I see a lot of young guys in new f150s (easy to spot the revised 2021+ models). Aside from the expensive off-roast trims, most people I see in midsize trucks are middle aged and up. It’s easier to sign on the dotted line for a fat loan when you haven’t spent years actually trying to save money.
That said, it’s absolutely ridiculous to spend over $60k on an f150. Those higher trims are literally up to 50% markup compared to a nicely equipped xl/xlt. Personally if I was in the market now I’d just say screw it and buy a frontier or maverick; easier to stomach something with an OTD price that still begins with 3.
When I bought my truck 4 1/2 years ago, the decision to upgrade was a lot easier to justify.
I love the amenities of my King Ranch, but if I crashed mine today and had to replace with a new 2023, the price would be $25,000 higher than what I paid for my 2019 ($15,000 higher sticker). That’s a tough pill to swallow.
It’s crazy out there. We were planning to replace my wife’s car (and could if we HAD to) but it doesn’t make much economic sense to buy something new now. We will keep it going until the incentives and price wars return.
Yeah, back then it was still a bit of a price jump but you could get more off sticker price. Now that regular sales aren’t a thing…
I’ve got a 2016 xlt-tbh, it has everything I need, and I’ve taken it cross country several times in pretty good comfort. I’d like leather, heated seats, and dual climate control, but not enough to pay another $8k or whatever to get a lariat now. It’s still nicer than the just about anything from the 90s/00s (remember the Eddie Bauer trim that was pretty much just mediocre leather, a 6 disc cd changer and a duffle bag?). I think the XL with the stx package is the way to go right now
That’s the boat I’m in. If I had to replace my 2020 Ram 1500 Big Horn with an identical 2023 model it’s a $9,000 jump for the same spec, plus I’d be forced into the 12” touch screen over my 8.4”, which I don’t consider an upgrade. It’s a lot harder to justify at $61k vs $52k.
Your source? I see 8 year loans being advertised. I dont think rich people need that long a term?
Many people who are capable of taking shorter loans or paying cash take long loans instead for various financial reasons.
Is it greed or drinking the Kool Aid? all of these manufacturers were banking on the commodities of scale pricing to kick in and start to make the prices of the Batteries drop so these massive golf carts can actually be profitable to the everyman. But then reality and government subsidies started to go away and the resources being finite, resulted in the opposite when supply was less than demand. I mean the cheap 3rd world labor also seemed to dry up, and then inflation hit……
“I hope you don’t mind that we pass the costs into you consumers” What alternative do you suggest when a product costs more to make other than increasing the price they sell the product for?
I’m not saying that all of these increases in the cost of the Lightning are directly tied to increased cost of production since I don’t know Fords actual costs. If the cost of production went up $10k and Ford raised the price $20k then it is pure corporate greed. If the cost of production went up by $20k and they raised the price by $20k then that is what had to be done. My guess is it is probably somewhere in between and the cost of production went up something like $16-18k and they raised the price by $20k to maintain their previous profit percentage which is how most companies operate.
The problem with this logic is that the Platinum and the Pro use the same amount of lithium and only one has seen the price rise by $20k.
I’d bet the $40k opening price was vastly undervaluing the truck, at least from Ford’s P&L standpoint. They did it to get headlines and have a loss leader, to have a full size EV truck appear “affordable.”
Perhaps the pendulum has swung too far the other way, but to believe the base MSRP was going to be $40k for a significant amount of time was always silly, IMO.
100% agreed
Can’t wait until the Maverick’s price gets jacked up by 50% then. Any minute now…
I naively expected Ford would always offer a bare bones fleet model to be able to continue using that $40k quote. Private buyers usually upgrade anyway, because who wants AM radio and manual windows, so $90k Lightnings will sell. That’s a helluva lot of money to save the environment.
Certianly the already reported losses and expected Future losses in the Billions supports that theory. problem is, they cannot really make a cheap one that works in place of even a base model ice F150.
That’s exactly what they did. They lowered just the price of the Pro trim to a ridiculous level for hype, which made it $13,000 cheaper than the XLT trim, even though the only differences were painted bumpers, an “upgrade” to cloth seats”, carpeted floors, and 360 camera. For $13k.
There’s a reason the normal gap between XL and XLT is $3k-$4k. And, surprise, now after all the price hikes, the Pro is $3500 less than the XLT.
Yeah…. but let’s be real. Most people don’t need to be driving the level of expensive car they are driving. It’s a choice. I see people struggling to save for a house somehow thinking it’s normal to spend $25, 30, 35k on a car, when they don’t even own property? That’s crazy to me.
They would be fine in a $5000 used Prius, paid in cash, and saved that monthly payment for a house, but they didn’t. I don’t think that’s the automakers fault, it’s the idiots who think signing up for a huge depreciating asset when they aren’t rich is a good idea.
try pricing a house, specifically a direct replacement for yours. It is pretty insane. I think the issue is the Prius has a limited shelf life. 5K priuses are often very broken these days, at that price, and the battery while actually fairly easy to replace is like Fuel Injection was in the 80’s (Witchcraft to most shade trees). I think the sub 30K Bolts and Hyundais are being signed up for as you say because they have a warranty and hopefully a teensie bit of resale value in 3-5 years when the first big breakdown occurs and they want to replace them.
It’s unfair to compare housing to cars for too many reasons to list. People aren’t blowing money they could otherwise save for a house, the money isn’t there to begin with.
I mean, depending on the price of the car it can be. A ten year old, 100k mile Corolla still has a lot of life and can be had for 12k based on a 30 second auto trader search. So if you were to buy that instead of a $30k car, factor in interest over the course of that 5 year loan (if not longer), you’ve magically got $20k. That’s a 5% down payment on a $400k house. You’ll have to buy a new car sooner but your housing costs are now more or less fixed, compared to rent that rose an average of 4% per year before the ‘housing crisis’ and whatever hellish number it is now( run that calculation for 20 years and tell me renting is a good idea).
It sucks, and some people genuinely don’t have the means, but a lot of people complain about housing while still spending on frivolous stuff. Someone buying a $30k car (or god forbid, the $70k trucks referenced above) falls squarely in the latter category.
The manufacturers are at fault to a degree when they offer and normalize predatory financing though…which all the American companies do. It’s easier to lure these people into bad financial decisions when you’re offering 96 month loans on the products with your in house financing. Hell, when you build something in a Ford or GM configurator the default payment is a 72 month loan at 7 or 8% APR. In what world is that a normal car note?
While I love my $5000 Prius, with the increase in gas prices since I bought it and corresponding bump in Prius prices, I’m guessing you can’t find a Prius in any kind of decent shape for that right now. Even when I was shopping $4000 was the floor for anything running and driving, and at $4k you were looking at a beat to hell car with around a quarter of a million miles. I only got mine for $5k because the guy wanted to unload it quick and had no idea what it was worth. And it’s still pretty rough cosmetically.
A Prius is also not the greatest option if you’re on a tight budget because the old ones have some expensive components that can wear out and leave you with a multi-thousand dollar bill before you can drive it again. I have both the money and wrenching expertise to make that risk worth it, but if you’re in dire financial straits a more conventional car like a Corolla is a better option.
Used cars don’t exist in a vacuum. If new prices go up used prices will follow because more people won’t be able to afford new.
The Lightning Pro isn’t a good deal because all vehicles/trucks are crazy right now.
It’s not a bad deal relative to other trucks, though, if it fits your use case.
Yea but the government will pay for everything like now. Man writing billion dollar checks like it was someone elses money. Oh wait it is its ours.
The Lightning stopped being a good deal when Ford raised the prices in 2022. Realistically though, you could say that the F-150 (and all trucks really) stopped being a good deal in general. I was just in the market for an F-150 and seriously considered a Lightning… It just wasn’t feasible especially with dealer mark-ups. I’ll explain.
I like a decently optioned truck – whether I need it or not is not really the question because the reality is it is how I like to spec my vehicles.
A 2023 F-150 Lariat Supercrew 4×4 with the 6.5′ bed and 5.0V8 engine (AND NO OTHER OPTIONS) stickers at 65K. Before 2022, the Lariat Lightning was someplace around 75K with no markup and the large battery. Ignoring that fact that this is a huge amount of money, the Lighting wasn’t a terrible premium over the gas truck. After the 7500 dollar price hike in 2022, plus the 10K dealers wanted to charge (which I refuse to do), you were looking at a truck nearing 100K. If you got the standard battery, your still at 90K… and have to deal with the range issues that arise with that (My round trip is 100 miles a day, add in cold weather and decreased capacity in 5 years and my range is a little too close for comfort).
I did make an offer for a standard battery lightning lariat at MSRP but my dealer wasn’t ready to do it. Once I crunched the numbers, I also decided it wasn’t worth the month to month payment. I ultimately bought a 2017 F-150 Lariat with all the options I wanted for 32K. While I will keep looking at them in the future, it just wasnt the right choice for me at this juncture.
When you compare the gas F-150 with the Lightning their prices are very close, BUT the Lightning has all that new (and currently expensive) EV tech in it, while the gas one has decades old tech that’s been amortized long ago.
I can see how the EV truck’s price could be justified to some extent, but the gas one?? LOL
Did Ford put the 40K Pro out there as a loss leader to build hype and suck in retail buyers? The new price sounds an awful lot like where it should have been priced all along. I just can’t believe the executives in charge of pricing at an enormous manufacturer would be off by 50%
Yeah, it smells an awful lot like the long-rumored (and only momentarily available) $35,000 Model 3.
or the $40K Tesla MoonTruck. I am pretty sure 40K was the magic number when G and Tesla were bloviating about the product we still have not seen for sale on the open market.
~$35,000 Model 3 was available for 19 months, but yeah, very similar situation. For both of them, it was mostly a PR move. They limited sales in different ways, though. Ford by just not plain not selling more than a relative handful of them. Tesla by waiting until a bunch of people had already caved and bought more expensive versions, then making the $35k version undesirable by making the $38k version far better.
I don’t know if it’s a good or bad deal anymore, to me it just makes the Rivian look more appealing. This seems less of a bad price and more of a realistic price. Still stupidly expensive, but for an electric truck its size, I’m not entirely surprised. I wonder if GM will maintain the “$39,990” price tag for the silverado EV, or if it will shoot up shortly thereafter too
The “vaporware” base model vehicle isn’t anything new. Years ago it was the manual transmission, crank your own windows model. If GM doesn’t have battery supply issues, maybe they’ll sell some to people who order it. Otherwise they’ll just crank out High Country trims and work their way down from there. I certainly doubt you’d see one on a dealer lot.
Hell, these days every vehicle that is delivered to the dealer seems to be slathered in port installed nonsense to jack up the price. Then the dealer adds their own wheel and tire warranty or just straight up markup.
Stealership….