Initial 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Production Not Excluding Fleet Buyers

Production of the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning began at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center just a couple of weeks ago, though it will take some time (and possibly multiple model years) for FoMoCo to build enough EV pickups to meet demand for the sold-out model. However, it’s worth noting that Ford stopped taking fleet orders for the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning back in late January, though several commercial customers have already placed orders for them. Regardless, Ford is still building a significant number of commercial-oriented Pro models in its early stages of production, according to Automotive News.

The very first 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning models to emerge from the Rouge plant were Pro models, in fact, and around one out of every five built thus far are finished in the fleet-focused trim level. This is quite a bit different than the approach many other automakers take with new EV models, which is to build the most expensive variants first.

“Fleets we look after; they are the core of our business,” Darren Palmer, Ford’s vice president of electric vehicle programs, told Automotive News. Even though we could sell more vehicles, more expensive, it’s not about the short-term profit. We launched with them right at the beginning and we’re giving them 20 percent all through. We’ve done about three or four waves now, and that was the end of the 2022 model year. We saw a really, really high conversion. At the moment it would be meaningless if I said the number because it wouldn’t include those who held on [for the 2023 model year]. But it’s pretty good.”

Palmer recently said that Ford built around 2,800 F-150 Lightning models in less than three weeks of production, but wouldn’t specify an exact conversion rate for reservations. He did say that a “really high mix” of orders are for Lariat-trimmed pickups, however. Interestingly, it seems that the main production constraints for the F-150 Lighting thus far are related to chips that are needed for features such as the backup camera and windshield wipers – not connected vehicle services.

Due to higher-than-expected demand, Ford will roughly double its planned F-150 Lightning production by mid-2023 to 150k units annually, as Ford Authority reported in early January. In the meantime, those that take delivery of a 2022 model will get more range, horsepower, and max payload capacity than originally expected.

We’ll have more on the F-150 Lightning soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and ongoing Ford news coverage.