Farley stated Ford constructed greater than 2,000 Lightnings within the first few weeks of manufacturing on the Rouge Electrical Car Middle in Dearborn, Mich., and that the primary ones quickly shall be delivered to industrial companies.
Ford already has elevated the quantity of deliberate manufacturing twice, from an preliminary capability of 40,000 Lightnings a 12 months to 150,000.
“The actual fact this automobile has gotten a lot curiosity and triggered Ford to extend deliberate manufacturing capability is an indicator that maybe the mainstream is admittedly prepared for EVs,” Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights, stated in an interview. “Within the context of the time, I believe it definitely has the potential to be transformative.”
Invoice Ford likened the launch to that of the Mannequin T.
“Again then, we had been the primary firm to carry cars to all people,” he stated. “Now, we are the first firm to construct electrical vans for everyone — approach forward of anybody else.”
The corporate additionally plans to construct a second electric pickup on the Blue Oval Metropolis complicated in Tennessee deliberate to open in 2024. Along with microchips, the automaker will want a gentle provide of batteries and uncooked supplies corresponding to lithium, though officers say they’ve secured sufficient to satisfy short-term objectives.
“They’ve a terrific product lineup that folks actually appear to need,” Abuelsamid stated. “If they’ll get previous the availability chain points, they’re most likely arrange fairly nicely.”