Ford announced on Thursday that it will start sending 144,000 of its updated F-150 and Ranger pickup trucks to dealers across North America. These trucks were built earlier but were held back to ensure they meet quality standards.
The company also revealed that shipments of the F-150 Lightning electric trucks, which had been paused since February, will resume this month. Ford has also reduced prices on some versions of the Lightning by up to $5,500.
These shipments of large F-150s, which are Ford’s top-selling model, along with midsize Ranger trucks, are crucial for Ford to achieve its pre-tax profit goal of $10 billion to $12 billion by 2024. This target was confirmed by the company last month.
The delay in sending these trucks to dealers might affect Ford’s financial results for the first quarter, which are due to be reported on April 24. John Lawler, Ford’s chief financial officer, informed investors last month that the company had 60,000 F-150s in stock and that it planned to ship them in the current quarter.
Last year, Ford adopted a cautious approach to vehicle launches at its Kentucky Truck complex, where Super Duty pickups and Navigator large SUVs are built. According to its annual report, Ford spent nearly $4.8 billion on warranty repairs in 2023.
Regarding the redesigned F-150s, Ford engineers found during analysis that certain electronic components were not shutting off properly or were using more power than expected. Ford stated, “Engineers updated the problematic software before any trucks left the plant.”
In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Ford shares were up by 8 cents, or less than 1%, at $13.14 per share in the afternoon.
