The Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup has been axed as part of a strategic switch on electric vehicles (EVs) by the automaker, which has cost it billions.
However, the Blue Oval still forecasts an overall profit for 2025, and profitability for its Model e EV division by 2029.
Ford has announced production of the battery-electric F-150 Lightning, unveiled in 2022 but never part of the Ford Australia lineup, ends this year and it will be replaced by a new F-150 Lightning extended-range electric vehicle (EREV).
The EREV version will enter production at an unspecified date at the same plant: the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
There is no confirmation on whether the F-150 EREV will join the Australian lineup, with the F-150 due for its first update in 2026 since it was launched here in 2023.
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Unlike Ford’s existing F-150 Hybrid, the EREV’s petrol engine will never send drive directly to the wheels. Instead, it’ll generate electricity, with drive sent to electric motors. Ford says combined range will be more than 700 miles (1126km).
Ford’s move to axe the electric F-150 Lightning follows Ram’s decision this year not to proceed with an electric version of its 1500, focusing instead on an EREV version.
The F-150 Lightning was dubbed by Ford as its most significant vehicle launch since the 1908 Model T, largely credited with putting the world on wheels as the first truly affordable mass-market motor car – with an Australian version made from 1925.
The move to a EREV version reflects comments made by Ford CEO and president Jim Farley in February 2025 on an earnings call, where he suggested a move away from battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to EREV models instead.
The switch, according to Ford, will cost the car giant $19.5 billion ($A29.4 billion) as part of yet another shake-up of its electric vehicle (EV) plans.
An electric van planned for production in Ohio from 2028 has also been shelved as part of the changes, with petrol and hybrid models to be rolled out instead.
Ford is still planning an electric pickup, however, on its new “low-cost, flexible” Universal EV Platform. The Ranger-sized pickup will enter production at the Louisville Assembly Plant, and is set to be the first of several “smaller, highly efficient and affordable electric vehicles designed to be accessible to millions of customers”.
“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.
“The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business.”
By 2030, Ford expects EVs, EREVs and hybrids combined to account for 50 per cent of its global volume.
Ford has revised its EV approach at multiple points since the F-150 Lightning arrived, with Mr Farley suggesting the end of EV incentives in the US last September could see EV sales cut by half.
For example, in 2024 it axed plans to launch a large electric SUV. Now, with the demise of the F-150 Lightning EV, it’s clear Ford is shifting its EV focus to smaller, more affordable Universal EV Platform vehicles.
In Australia, the federal government is scheduled to weigh up changes to Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) incentives for EV buyers by early 2026, and is mulling a national road-user charge.
Mr Farley has previously pointed to stronger competition from Chinese automakers as a bigger threat to Ford’s future than its traditional US rivals General Motors (GM) and Chrysler (now part of Dutch-based Stellantis).
“They have enough capacity in China with the existing factories to serve the entire North America market, put us all out of business. Japan never had that. So, this is a completely different level of risk for our industry,” Mr Farley said to CBS Sunday Morning last month.
The new strategy also comes after a tumultuous year for the global auto industry, given the tariffs introduced by the US in April – and multiple changes to them since – creating uncertainty and preventing automakers from locking in long-term product lineups.
The US is the world’s second largest new-car market, with around 16 million sales in 2024 – behind China’s 30 million.
Ford Australia introduced its first EV, the E-Transit commercial van, in 2023, with the E-Transit Custom and Mustang Mach-E having joined it since.
The Mustang Mach-E has struggled to make an impact locally, with Ford Australia delivering 435 examples this year – down 31.9 per cent on the same period last year.
While it’s outselling the Kia EV6 and Subaru Solterra, it’s being outsold by 2-to-1 by the Toyota bZ4X and almost 3-to-1 by the Volkswagen ID.4, with the Tesla Model Y leaving them all in its dust.
As for Ford’s electric vans here, the E-Transit accounts for under seven per cent of total Transit Heavy sales, while the E-Transit Custom hasn’t been on sale for the full year.