Ford delays launch of next-gen F-150 Lightning and E-Transit EV to 2028
Ford informed suppliers and employees in June that a full-size electric pickup, which is to be the successor to the F-150 Lightning, will be delayed to 2028, a company spokesman told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Aug. 8. That's a delay of a few months longer than the initial delay set for late 2027. Prototypes for that vehicle will still launch in 2027. Ford plans to make that vehicle at its BlueOval City Assembly Plant in Tennessee.
Additionally, Ford is delaying production of its E-transit van, to be built at its Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, from 2026 to 2028.
'F-150 Lightning, America's best-selling electric truck, and E-Transit continue to meet today's customer needs," Ford spokesman Ian Thibodeau said in a statement. "We remain focused on delivering our Ford+ plan and will be nimble in adjusting our product launch timing to meet market needs and customer demand while targeting improved profitability.'
This is not the first time Ford has shifted its EV strategy, and it won't be the last. Ford's EV lineup consists of the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit EV. CEO Jim Farley teased the announcement as being "a Model T moment" for the company, a reference to Ford's historic early car that helped build the 120-year company into a mass-market carmaker.
Ford, which leads the industry in recalls, has yet to make money on its EV sales. In fact, Ford has projected it will lose up to $5.5 billion in its EV and software operations for 2025. In the second quarter, Ford reported its Model e electric vehicle unit lost $1.3 billion in the quarter, a wider loss than the $1.1 billion it lost in the year-ago period.
Farley has said Ford needs to look at the Chinese car companies as its main competitors going forward in the EV space. As the Free Press reported in June, Farley and Ford's executive leadership team went to China earlier this year with an agenda: to study every aspect of how Chinese auto companies operate, then apply those lessons across Ford in its other markets.
That's because Chinese automakers have been driving down costs on EV production, selling high-quality, well-designed EVs at affordable prices in Europe and Asia. Ford and other automakers are now focused on also producing lower-cost, smaller EV models using cheaper-to-make batteries that sit on a streamlined platform.
Automotive News was first to report the extension of the delays. The Detroit Free Press first reported Ford's initial move to delay the EV launches in August 2024. Ford said at that time that it is changing its EV strategy, canceling plans for an all-electric three-row SUV and delaying the launch of a full-size EV pickup.
At that time Ford said it was making those changes so that it could prioritize the introduction of a new, all-electric commercial van in 2026 (now delayed to 2028). Then, a more affordable midsize EV pickup and the full-size pickup would launch in 2027 — an initial delay of about 18 months from the original plans.
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
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