Ford Motor Company unveiled its all-electric 2022 F-150 Lightning last night at a live stream event from its world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The worldwide event was broadcast live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as from various locations in Times Square in New York City and on Las Vegas Boulevard, according to Ford representatives. Ford executives said fewer than 12 hours after the big event, orders have already begun rolling in for the new all-electric F-150 Lightning.
“The response has been great,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said, according to CNBC. “With 20,000 orders already, we’re off to the races.”
Farley added that the new F-150 Lightning truck can “power your home during an outage” and is faster than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck. It will be built beginning next spring by UAW members at Ford’s new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. A refundable $100 deposit is required in order to reserve one of the trucks.
Ford executives and the company’s investors are closely monitoring the new orders as they come in this week. They are trying to assess the interest of customers in the new pickup trucks since the market is an unproven one, Ford representatives say.
Farley expects the F-150 Lightning will be a true test as to whether most Americans are really interested in electric vehicles. A Boston Consulting Group economic analysis from last June shows that the F-Series is only second to the iPhone when it comes to branded consumer product sales.
