Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck is expected to start delivering its first vehicles in 2022, and ahead of the launch, some independent dealerships are marking up prices by eye-popping amounts.
According to users on the u/F150Lightning sub-Reddit, one Ford dealer, the Koons Falls Church location in Virginia, emailed those with pre-order a markup of $30,000 USD was coming.
“If you would like to be one of the first 25 orders there will be a $30,000 market adjustment,” writes the dealership’s general sales manager in an email. “All other orders will have a $10,000 market adjustment to the MSRP. We will not be honouring any plan pricing at this time,” details the sales manager.
Also required is an additional $5,000 deposit, which will go towards the purchase of the F-150 Lightning. For those not proceeding or cancelling orders, the deposits “will be forfeited.”
As expected, the fallout online was not good, with many on Reddit commenting and reacting with shock and awe at the incredible markup.
The Koons Ford Falls Church sales manager sent an update today, likely due to the fallout of the $30,000 markup after it spread on the internet.
Now, the sales manager writes, “after further consideration, due to availability and factory constraints, our dealership will determine pricing once Ford has released model comparisons, MSRP as well as how many will be available to our customers for the upcoming 2022 F-150 launch.”
Many continued to warn dealerships might increase prices closer to the date, and the email was just to save face due to the media firestorm over the price increase emails sent out by other dealerships, ranging from $10,000 to $30,000.
Electric automaker Tesla has an online-only purchasing model with all customers paying the same pricing in their respective countries where vehicles are offered for sale.
Ford CEO Jim Farley spoke to the media earlier this week, citing how the company believes it has a chance to beat Tesla if it can ramp up production for its electric vehicles.
