Ford is offering the largest discount yet on the F-150 Lightning, which can be had for $7,500 off for buying or leasing, according to incentives introduced last week.
Combined with the $7,500 federal tax credit that some shoppers are eligible for, this means that some F-150 Lightning trims can be had with up to $15,000 in savings.
Running through January 2, the incentives discovered by CarsDirect are the highest for the F-150 Lightning Platinum range-topping model, which offers a choice between $7,500 in Retail Customer Cash or the same amount in Red Carpet Lease Customer Cash.
Mind you, the Platinum does not qualify for the $7,500 tax credit because its starting MSRP of $91,995 exceeds the Inflation Reduction Act price cap of $80,000 for SUVs, trucks, and vans.
The sweetest deal is for the F-150 Lightning Lariat, which also comes with a $7,500 purchase discount but only $5,000 for leasing. Since the Lariat starts at $69,995, eligible customers can save a total of up to $15,000 including the $7,500 tax credit, leading to an effective price of around $55,000 after savings.
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Ford also offers a $1,500 incentive for the F-150 Lightning XLT for purchasing or leasing. The base F-150 Lightning Pro is the only trim level that gets no discounts whatsoever.
The discounts have been introduced just as Ford is in the midst of increasing F-150 Lightning production at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. The company said it plans to reach an annualized production rate of 150,000 electric trucks this fall.
However, F-150 Lightning sales aren’t going great, with Ford delivering 3,503 electric pickups to customers in the third quarter, down 45 percent from last year.
Earlier this month, Ford canceled some dealer stock orders for the 2023 F-150 Lightning, motivated by “additional quality checks” that needed to be performed. Customer orders had not been canceled, the automaker added.
Ford did not disclose the nature of the quality issues that were identified on 2023 F-150 Lightning trucks, but a company spokesman said they were not safety-related.
The automaker resumed F-150 Lightning production on August 1 after a six-week shutdown to expand and retool the facility in order to triple manufacturing capacity.
