Ford currently has around 160,000 reservations and counting for the F-150 Lightning all-electric truck. The immediate positive response from the public and the growing reservation list convinced Ford to make an additional $250 million investment to boost production capacity at a new facility in Michigan. Online orders are expected to get underway sometime next month. One of the things we've been hoping to see is a breakdown of who these early buyers are and what they're currently driving.
The Lightning Owners forum combed through the data in its own reservation tracking list and discovered some interesting things about the 450+ members who've placed an order. An impressive 25 percent of these members are replacing a combustion engine-powered F-150. One member is even parting with a 1972 Ford F100.
This is very good news for Ford as it seems to indicate existing owners are interested in making the EV transition. There is, however, a potential downside: the Lightning could cannibalize Ford's trucks sales. Not surprisingly, brand loyalty remains firm. GM and Ram trade-ins are almost non-existent.
But the most conquested competitor's truck is - get ready for this - the Toyota Tacoma. About 5 percent of respondents say they'll be trading one in for a Lightning. This is extremely interesting because Tacoma drivers are known for their loyalty and that the Lightning is bigger and quite different. Another 40 percent have owned an EV in the past and 11 percent are replacing a Tesla.
The latter is quite interesting because they've chosen the F-150 over the upcoming Cybertruck. Tesla has a good track record of returning customers but since it doesn't have a production-ready Cybertruck to sell just yet, some of these people went shopping elsewhere. Tesla is hoping to begin Cybertruck production at its new Austin, Texas Gigafactory sometime next year.
An exact date hasn't been confirmed but it's not the first time it's been delayed. As for the F-150 Lightning, the first batch of deliveries remains on schedule for spring 2022. Prices begin at just under $40,000 and surpass $90,000 for the fully-loaded Platinum trim.