The first Ford F-150 Lightnings are rolling off assembly lines and headed to customers today, after almost a year of anticipation. The company’s second EV after the successful Mustang Mach-E is in a category of one for the moment — the only full-size electric pickup truck available right now. (Rivian has sold around 2,000 of the well-reviewed R1T but it slots somewhere between the compact Toyota Tacoma and full-size trucks like the F-150.) Full-size competitors from GM, Ram, and Tesla are all forthcoming, but the Lightning will have the market to itself for at least a year, and Ford CEO Jim Farley intends to take full advantage of that lead to steal customers away from his competitors.
“We should send every one to a customer who’s never bought a Ford before,” Farley told me in a short interview last week. “My opinion is we should go for it.”
After he ships out all 200,000 preorders, of course. Demand for the Lightning has been so strong that Ford’s invested $950…