Ford lost a whopping $3.6 billion in market value in a single day after investors didn’t see the recent price cuts applied to the all-electric F-150 Lightning truck with good eyes, sending shares down 5.9 percent, the biggest drop in five months for the American car maker, Automotive News reports.
The price cuts – which amount to almost $10,000 for the cheapest trim level of the Lightning – come after several increases that have been caused by the global chip shortage and the high cost of battery materials.
However, now that the availability of computer chips is greater and the prices for raw materials like lithium and nickel have gone down, the Michigan-based automaker has slashed the price of its all-electric pickup, just ahead of the Tesla Cybertruck’s imminent commercial launch, which is expected to happen sometime in the third quarter, possibly in September.
Gallery: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning: 2022 Motor1.com Star Awards
But while the price cuts have negatively affected Ford, it seems to have worked wonders for Tesla, which saw its stock price double this year, helped by the record deliveries recorded in previous financial quarters.
While more than welcome for Ford customers, who can now buy a cheaper electric truck, the company’s recent action comes to contradict previous statements made by its CEO Jim Farley, who said back in May that it would avoid EV segments that were becoming “commoditized” and focus on those with “serious pricing power.”
With this being said, the cheapest F-150 Lightning – the Pro – is still about $10,000 more expensive than it was back in January 2022 when it officially went on sale. The most expensive trim level, however, the Platinum, is closer to what was announced a year and a half ago, with a current starting price of $91,995 compared to $90,874 at the beginning of 2022.
Currently, the Michigan factory that builds the electric F-150 is closed for upgrades, but after reopening next month, its goal is to manufacture no less than 150,000 Lightnings per year, triple what it was until now.
Last month, the blue oval company sold 1,424 battery-powered pickups in the United States, while the second quarter saw 4,466 units sold.
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