Source: Gasgoo
Ford said that it would begin delivering 144,000 of its new F-150 and Ranger pickup trucks to North American distributors on April 11.
Besides, Ford said it would restart deliveries of its F-150 Lightning pickup this month and cut the price of some F-150 Lightning models by as much as $5,500. Ford halted deliveries of the F-150 Lightning in February.
The F-150 large pickup truck and Ranger heavy-duty pickup truck are Ford’s top-selling vehicles. The sales of these two models will be crucial for the company to reach 2024 pretax profit target of $10 billion to $12 billion, which Ford reiterated last month.
Image source: Ford
The delay in delivering trucks to distributors could affect sales within the first-quarter. Ford’s chief financial officer told their investors last month that the company currently has 60,000 F-150s in inventory and expects to ship them this quarter.
Last year, Ford slowed vehicle deliveries at its Kentucky Truck plant, which makes the Super Duty pickup truck and Navigator large SUV. Ford’s annual report shows the company paid nearly $4.8 billion in warranty repairs in 2023.
In the new F-150 model, Ford’s engineers found that certain electronic components were not turned off or were consuming more power than expected by analyzing data from inventory trucks. “Engineers updated the software in question before all trucks left the factory,” Ford said in a statement.
Ford’s shares rose 8 cents and close at $13.14 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange on April 11.
