Ford Motor Company on Tuesday became the latest automaker to raise the price of its electric vehicles when it slashed the price of its popular F-150 Lightning due to rising material costs.
The company began manufacturing the Lightning in April and had sold more than 4,400 units by the end of July. Ford is taking pre-orders for over 200,000 of his, and the price increase will apply from his 2023 model year.
Ford said it would raise the starting price of the truck for newly ordered vehicles from $6,000 to $8,500. After the price increase, the truck will cost $46,974 for the base model and $96,874 for the Platinum version with the extended-range battery pack.
The price increase will not affect customers who have already placed orders and are waiting for their trucks. Reservations allow customers to queue to order the purchase of trucks. Ford has stopped taking orders due to strong demand, but said it will resume taking orders on Thursday when the new prices take effect.
Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer of Ford’s electric vehicle division (Model e), said in a statement, “We announced the pricing before we reopened the order bank, so reservation holders will have access to the Lightning. You can make an informed decision about your order.
Other automakers are also raising prices for electric vehicles. Tesla has raised the price of the Model 3 and Model Y by several thousand dollars in recent months, to about $47,000 now and he’s starting at $66,000.
Prices for all cars, including conventional gasoline models, are rising as a shortage of computer chips prevents manufacturers from producing as many cars as consumers want to buy. The price of electric vehicles is also rising as the supply of raw materials cannot keep up with the rapidly growing demand. Raw material costs have also been hit by the turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.Ford management said in July that material costs would rise by about $4 billion this year. said to expect.
A climate and health bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, has passed Congress and could help make electric vehicles more affordable by offering tax credits to buyers. However, many current models, such as the F-150 Lightning, require that a certain percentage of the car’s batteries be manufactured in North America using materials from allies, which may not qualify. I have. The percentage must be increased each year for vehicles to continue to qualify for the tax relief.
