2021 Ford F-150 Pickups Removed From Dearborn Test Track: Exclusive

Back in April, Ford Authority reported that incomplete 2021 Ford F-150 pickups were being stored around the Detroit area as a result of the semiconductor chip shortage. Just a couple of weeks later, Ford Authority exclusively spotted these chipless 2021 Ford F-150 pickups sitting at the Dearborn Development Center test track. However, our spy photographers were recently in the area and noticed that those trucks are no longer being stored there, as we can see in the photo above.

On this particular day, the only vehicles spotted at the test track were a pair of Ford Mustang Mach-E and Ford Mustang Mach 1 models, not the bevy of pickups that were lined up in rows a few months ago. Just last week, Ford said that it had 70,000 chipless vehicles sitting in various lots around the U.S. at the end of June, a big increase from the 22,000 incomplete vehicles it had stored back in Q1.

Ford did note that it expected most of these vehicles to be completed and shipped to dealers by the end of Q3, however. As Ford Authority reported last month, the automaker received a large batch of chips and was planning to install them in Ford F-150 and Ford Super Duty pickups, two of the automaker’s biggest cash cows and best-selling vehicles. This is also important as Ford prepares to begin production of the 2021 F-150 Raptor, which is still on track for a summer launch, as Ford Authority recently reported.

While some Ford execs believe the chip shortage will persist until June of 2022, CEO Jim Farley recently admitted that the chip supply has improved somewhat in recent weeks. How things progress in the coming months will be particularly important for Ford, which has been impacted by the chip shortage more than any other North American automaker thus far.

We’ll have more on the semiconductor chip shortage and F-150 production soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, and continuous Ford news coverage.