The starting MSRP for the Ford F-150 Lightning has jumped more than $20,000 from where Ford pegged it at the truck’s launch.
Remember when Ford pitched the base, work truck version of its all-electric F-150 Lightning under $40,000? Yeah, Pepperidge Farm remembers and so does TFLtruck — that feels like a distant memory now. After another price hike (and another run to the grocery store for some heartburn medication), the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning Pro now kicks off at $61,869.
If you didn’t already have your calculator out, that amounts to a staggering $21,895 jump from that initial launch pricing announcement in May 2021. This latest hike, for what it’s worth, tacks another $4,000 onto the base MSRP a few months after Ford already hiked pricing in December 2022.
It’s not just the Pro, either (although that is the largest increase among the Lightning’s trims). The mid-range Lariat jumps by $1,500 to start at $77,869, including Ford’s $1,895 destination charge. The Platinum just barely squeaks in under $100,000 — its $1,200 jump brings the starting MSRP to $99,969. Mind you, the company also bundles in a $500 mobile power cord into the mix, so that sub-$100K price tag really boils down to semantics.
Once more, the company pointed at market constraints including material costs and demand as a reason for the price increase. Ford did have to stop production due to a battery issue and only rebooted building F-150 Lightnings at the Rouge plant on March 13. On that basis, a mid-year increase, you would think, should help cool demand enough for the automaker to catch up.
After all the price increases, it seems increasingly unlikely any truck maker, including GM and Tesla, will launch a base truck anywhere near the $40,000 price point. If that does indeed come to pass, then there still won’t be any objectively “affordable” electric truck on the market.
Long story short, if you’re looking to order a Ford F-150 Lightning, you’ll have to pry open your wallet (or dip into credit) even further to secure your truck. And even though I haven’t mentioned the words “dealer” and “markup” yet…well, I wish you all the best of luck there.
