Executives at Ford are considering killing its flagship electric pickup truck, the F-150 Lightning, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The discussions are happening in the wake of Ford’s late October decision to idle F-150 Lightning production while it prioritizes hybrid and gas-engine versions of the popular pickup. The company’s been dealing with production troubles after a fire broke out at aluminum supplier Novelis’ factory in Oswego, New York, earlier this year.
Ford introduced the F-150 Lightning in 2021 with a promised base price of $40,000. It started building and selling the truck in 2022 — although the truck wound up costing most customers a lot more.
But while it’s been one of the top-selling electric trucks in the United States since then, Ford has struggled to sell more than a few thousand of them per quarter. The market for electric trucks was tough even before Republicans in Congress ended the federal EV tax credit and the Trump administration took an axe to emissions regulations that encouraged the adoption of electric vehicles.
