The Ford F-150 Lightning has been in high demand since FoMoCo began taking reservations for it and quickly accumulated over 200,000 interested customers. After demand for the new EV pickup exceeded the automaker’s production capacity, Ford doubled its planned output to 150k units, which it aims to achieve by mid-2023. Regardless, some reservation holders have been faced with markups or are being forced to wait after the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning sold out last month, and it appears that dealers will also be facing stiff penalties if they sell demo units early, according to a dealer letter seen by Cars Direct.
“The sale of any F-150 Lightning FCTP Mannequin unit to a final customer prior to meeting all in-service requirements will result in a penalty of $25,000,” the letter reads, “unless the FCTP Mannequin can be replaced with another F-150 Lightning within 90 days.” The automaker goes on to note that violating this rule “will also result in the unit being ineligible for any retail bonus cash incentives and chargeback” of any incentives associated with the FCTP (Ford Courtesy Transportation Program). Additionally, such an action “will result in dealer ineligibility for future FCTP Mannequin programs.”
These are serious penalties for certain, and virtually guarantees that no dealer will be selling an F-150 Lightning demo truck earlier than it’s supposed to. It’s also a big change after the automaker previously told dealers that they would receive incentives for keeping those same demo trucks on their lots for predetermined amounts of time. Regardless, those units are expected to land at dealerships in mid-May, “based on commodity availability.”
2022 Ford F-150 Lighting production began at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center just last week, but as Ford Authority reported earlier that same week, the all-electric pickup is completely sold out for the 2022 model year, and it’s unclear when the automaker will be able to fill all of its orders for the new model.
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Comments
Does this mean I’ll actually see one , possibly drive one before mine is scheduled to be built in mid July?
The dealers do whatever they want. 20,000 markup on a 20,000 Maverick. I was in the market for a new truck but with all the BS being pulled, I’ll save money and keep my 2 year old truck.