Ford Motor has elevated the worth of its electrical pickup truck by 1000's of dollars "as a result of important materials price will increase and different elements," the Michigan automaker stated Tuesday.
The essential mannequin for the F-150 Lightning, referred to as the Lightning Professional, will now begin at $46,974, up practically $7,000 from its $39,974 price ticket earlier this 12 months. The truck's costliest mannequin, the Platinum Prolonged Vary, will price $96,874, up by $6,000.
Ford's value hikes come on the identical day as President Biden's signing of recent laws designed to make it simpler for automakers to get the semiconductors wanted to fabricate new autos. The Chips and Science Act gives greater than $200 billion to spice up home manufacturing of the pc chips, White Home officers stated.
Although semiconductor shortages have weighed on the manufacturing of recent autos, Ford stated its value hikes have been as a result of battery prices.
"The overwhelming majority of this value adjustment pertains to battery materials prices and is unrelated to the CHIPS Act," a Ford spokesperson instructed CBS Information.
Ford started manufacturing the Lightning in April and delivered its first batch of autos in Could of this 12 months. Greater than 4,400 vehicles have been bought thus far, the corporate stated.
Anybody trying to buy the Lightning at its new value can preorder beginning subsequent Thursday, Ford stated. Clients who've already preordered pays the earlier value, the automaker stated.
Ford is the newest firm to extend costs on its electrical car. Rivian, GM and Tesla have all raised their EV costs as steel costs have soared, together with the price of elements like lithium, that are essential to make batteries.
However at the same time as costs rise, demand for EVs continues to be robust. A survey launched final month from motor membership AAA discovered that about one-quarter of People say they wish to get an electrical car as their subsequent automotive buy. Analysis from Recurrent, a automotive trade evaluation firm, discovered that curiosity in shopping for an electrical car has soared 70% since January.
Automotive trade specialists say it is necessary to observe the worth of electrical autos because the U.S. tries to loosen its dependency on fossil fuels. At the same time as charging stations start to sprout up nationwide, value hikes on EVs like those from Tesla may put these autos financially out of attain for the center class, specialists stated.
Ford's value enhance additionally comes because the Home is ready to vote on the Inflation Discount Act, which amongst different issues consists of 1000's of dollars value of tax credit for shoppers shopping for electrical autos. An trade commerce group, nevertheless, says most prospects will not qualify for the credit right now as a result of the present model of the invoice incorporates a provision the place the automotive battery have to be constructed with supplies mined from North America.