Ford Says Nearing 200,000 F-150 Lightning Reservations, Order Bank Opening Soon

Ford Motor Co F told Benzinga on Tuesday its hotly-anticipated F-150 Lightning electric truck has secured nearly 200,000 bookings and the order bank is expected to open soon.

What Happened: The latest numbers are a significant jump from a month ago, when the Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford said bookings had touched 160,000 units for the electric variant of its best-selling truck.

The electric version of Ford’s most profitable and popular pickup truck will go on sale in Spring at a ticket price of $39,974 and up for the base model and a range of 230 miles for the standard range.

“We’re on track for customer deliveries to begin in spring 2022 and order banks will open soon,” a Ford spokesperson said.

Ford will soon invite reservation holders to place the final orders. Reservations are not final orders but, hypothetically, even half of those $100 fully-refundable bookings could fetch Ford significant volumes for the Lightning.

See Also: Ford Sold Nearly As Many Electric Mustangs As The Traditional Variant In November, 8% Higher Than Previous Month

The fresh reservation numbers indicate customers would likely have to wait much longer than previously anticipated to get the deliveries, given the limited capacity at the moment.

Ford had earlier said it would ramp up production for the F-150 Lightning electric truck and build 15,000 F-150s next year after the truck's spring launch, 55,000 in 2023 and eventually reach the 80,000 mark in 2024.

Ford said early indications show over 70% of the latest booing numbers for the electric truck are brand new customers for the automaker. 

The automaker said California, Texas and Florida are among the top three states for the reservations.

See Also: Ford's 160,000 Reservations Number For F-150 Lightning Doesn't Include Fleet Orders

Why It Matters: Ford is expecting the popularity of its best-selling and the most-profitable full size pickup truck F-150 to trickle down to the electric variant as well. 

The F-150 alone contributed over 27% of Ford’s total production numbers of 201,353 units in the month of October, as per the company data.

Ford CEO Jim Farley last week said the automaker will double electric vehicle production to 600,000 units by 2023 due to higher demand and said it aims the automaker to become the biggest electric vehicle maker in the world.

F-150 Lightning will be Ford’s second fully electric model on sale after Mustang Mach-E.

Price Action: Ford shares closed 3.85% higher at $19.96 a share on Tuesday.