Sit back and pop some popcorn! Watch these "200,000" reservations disappear into thin air now that Ford has made it official that these glorified F150s can push 6 digits. 😂
Mine opened up and I thought long and hard about it. My F-150 is estimated May. My R1T is estimated for Oct-Dec. At $75k like for like..R1T all the way no questions...
But I placed my order anyway. Why?
Ford Lightning Pro Base - No Options.
$41,669.
Current (Worst Case) = $41,669 - $7,500 = $34,169. No sales tax in my state for EVs. The cheapest F-150 is the XL at a MSRP of $30,985 or $33,037.75 after tax. Then factor in the standard equipment on the Lightning and you're easily getting more value out of that than a base F-150.
And then of course since it's so far away, there's also the potential best case scenario. Build Back Better passes and my state reinstates for the 3rd year in a row a $5,000 rebate for EVs under $45,000. That would make it $41,669 - $12,500 - $5,000 = $23,669 F-150. The options for a new pickup at that price point is extremely limited. But that's just me being optimistic.
Realistically I expect to drive this thing from June until Dec upon which I'll take delivery of my R1T. Even with the flip agreement, I dont expect to lose much if anything when I turn around to sell it a year later. I think Ford opening up the Pro level to retail customers is the smartest thing they could have done to make sure those 200,000 reservations don't go poof.
They don't need to sell 200,000 platinums to be successful. They just need to sell enough in general to convince people that an electric F-150 is viable to the masses.