Ford F-150 Lightning’s Tiny Sales

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jul 28, 9:15AM EDT

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Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) points out that its F-150 Lightning outsold the Tesla Cybertruck.
But is Ford’s bestselling EV worth celebrating?

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Ford F-150 Lightning’s Tiny Sales — © jetcityimage / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F | F Price Prediction) has promoted the fact that its F-150 Lightning outsells the Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) Cybertruck. In the first half of the year, Ford sold 13,029, which was down 16.7% from the year before. That is an average of 72 per day nationwide.

The Ford number is accurate, based on its evaluation of the first quarter of the year. The company says it sold 7,913, according to S&P Global Mobility. Tesla sold only 7,126 Cybertrucks in the same period.

What Ford does not say is that the Lightning launch was one of the greatest debacles in automotive history. In 2022, Executive Chair Bill Ford said the Lightning launch was unusually important to him:

Every time any auto manufacturer does a major launch, they always say it’s the most significant in the company’s history. To put this in perspective … it is probably the most important launch of my career. … This has been a personal journey of mine since I joined the company 43 years ago. And it sort of all culminates on Tuesday with the launch of this vehicle. So I think in many ways, it’s for me, anyway, the most important launch of my career.

Among the problems the Lighting has had is a recall of 29,501 vehicles for a ball joint nut on the front upper control arms that was not tightened to specifications.

A few Lightnings caught on fire because of battery problems. Another recall was due to a steering control problem.

In early 2024, Ford cut Lightning production because of a lack of demand. According to The New York Times, the company “slashed” production plans due to that lack of demand.

Ford CEO Jim Farley once said that his company would produce 600,000 electric vehicles (EVs) a year. If that happens, it will be years from now. In 2021, he said Ford would invest $30 billion in EVs. The company does not have much to show for it.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.