Auto experts say the electric F-150, known as the Lightning, must be a success if Ford is to thrive in the age of electric vehicles. Introducing this truck is tantamount to “betting on the company,” said William C. Ford Jr., the company’s executive chairman, who is a great-grandson of Henry Ford. “If this launch doesn’t go well, we could tarnish the entire franchise.”
A critical year for electric vehicles
The popularity of battery-powered cars is rising worldwide, even as the general car market is stagnating.
The company has amassed about 200,000 reservations for the trucks, but it may still stumble. Production could be slowed by the global chip shortage or the rising costs of lithium, nickel and other raw materials critical to batteries. The software Ford has developed for the truck could be flawed, an issue that hindered sales of a new electric Volkswagen in 2020.
ford and mr. Farley have something to do. Unlike many other electric cars, the F-150 Lightning is relatively affordable — it starts at $40,000. Tesla’s cheapest car is the compact Model 3 sedan, which starts at over $48,000. The Lightning has tons of storage space, including a giant trunk, appealing to families and companies with large truck fleets. And it helps that Tesla won’t start making its Cybertruck until next year.
And Ford is also already in the EV game with the Mustang Mach-E, an electric SUV. It had sales of more than 27,000 in 2021, its first year on the market, and received rave reviews.
Production of the F-150 Lightning is scheduled for next Monday. Competing models from General Motors, Stellantis and Toyota – Ford’s main pickup rivals – are at least a year away. Rivian, a newer manufacturer that Ford has invested in, has started selling an electric truck but is struggling to ramp up production.
“If the Lightning launch goes well, we have a huge opportunity,” said Mr. Ford.
‘Jimmy car-car’
In many ways, Mr. Farley checks most of the boxes when it comes to leading a major US automaker. Like Mary T. Barra, the chief executive of GM, whose father used to work on a Pontiac assembly line, Mr. Farley has family roots in the industry: his grandfather worked in a Ford factory. While visiting his grandfather, he would visit Ford factories and other sites important to the company’s history. As a 15-year-old, he bought a Mustang one summer while working in California and drove it home to Michigan without a license. His grandfather gave him the nickname “Jimmy Car-Car”.
But like Mr. Musk, a South African native and founder of PayPal and other companies, Mr. Farley has had a diverse career and has been involved in setting up businesses. Born in Argentina when his father worked as a banker there, Mr Farley, 59, also lived in Brazil and Canada growing up. His career didn’t start in the auto industry but at IBM. He spent a long time at Toyota. He helped the Japanese automaker overcome its reputation for dull and frugal cars by working on its fledgling luxury brand Lexus, now a powerhouse.
