Some automakers may have EVs sitting on lots, but none of them are Ford’s F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup, the automaker announcing Tuesday production is resuming after a lengthy closure to expand and retool the plant so it can produce 150,000 pickups annually.
The company said it has a 45-day backlog of orders for the Lightning, and was struggling to meet demand because of the constraints imposed by the size and inefficiencies in some parts of the Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, just outside Detroit.
The move not only helps meet demand and improves quality, but should encourage more buyers, said Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer, Model e, during a livestream announcing the plans.
“This is certainly an important milestone for us with the plant now ramping toward its new capacity run rate which means shorter wait times for our customers on top of already announced lower pricing,” he said.
Ford just reduced prices on the Lightning a week ago, and the company’s changed prices on the all-electric pickup several times during the first half of the year, as other EV makers — particularly Tesla — have done the same.