Ford hikes price of its electric F-150 pickup truck by $5,000
Ford Motor is raising the price of its base F-150 pickup truck by $5,000 as the automaker seeks to offset rising manufacturing costs.
Starting October 24, the F-150 Lightning Pro will cost $51,974, Ford said Wednesday. That is up 11% from $46,974 in August, while earlier in the year the base model was priced at $39,974. The price increase is "due to ongoing supply-chain constraints, rising material costs and other market factors," a Ford spokesperson told CBS News.
Other trim levels for the F-150 Lightning will cost the same. The new price won't impact any customers who have already pre-ordered the truck, a Ford spokesperson said.
Other automakers have also hiked the cost of their electric vehicle lines this year. Rivian, GM and Tesla have all raised their EV prices amid soaring metal prices and higher costs for components like lithium, which is used to make batteries.
Increasing demand is also propelling EV prices. A recent survey from motor club AAA found that about a quarter of Americans say they want to get an electric vehicle as their next car purchase. Research from Recurrent, a car industry analysis company, found that interest in buying an electric vehicle has soared 70% since January.
Ford has seen its EV demand rise rapidly among trucks and vans, Ford's vice president of sales Andrew Frick said in a company report Tuesday. The company sold more than 18,000 electric vehicles between July and September, according to monthly sales reports.
Ford, which is set to report third quarter earnings later this month, began manufacturing the Lightning in April and delivered its first batch of vehicles in June. The company has sold 8,760 of them since then.
Ford's stock price rose about 1% on Wall Street Wednesday to close at $12.50 a share.