Ford F-150 Lightning Exceeds Order Expectations, The State of fleet orders

It looks like LG is getting back into the automotive EV battery market with a recently reported joint venture with Honda Motor Co. This joint venture is rumored to potentially cost $3.4B and produce around 40 gigawatt hours of batteries. This would be enough batteries to power over half a million EVs. Right now LG’s company portfolio has a huge share of the EV battery market coming in at over 20%. They supply batteries to several manufacturers like Tesla, GM, and VW and are currently in the middle of a huge recall on GM Bolt EV batteries.

Ford is reporting to have taken over 50,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning since September. Ford announced it will be pumping up production of the lightning as demand for the new EV far outweighed the production capacity. They are wanting to have the ability to produce 150,000 per year by the end of 2023 which is more than triple what they had originally planned. Ford recently invested $250 million to boost production and added 450 new jobs in south Michigan. They are pushing hard to become the second largest producer of EVs in the US behind Tesla. The stock market has seemed to take notice as Ford’s stock has risen around 150% in the last 12 months I believe mostly in part to their EV announcements and the rave reviews of the F-150 Lightning by just about every person who has got their hands on one. The Lightning does seem to spark interest across many demographics as truck nuts, hipsters, tech nerds, and businesses are all jumping at the chance to try out the future of the automotive industry.

I wanted to quickly break down the state of fleet vehicle ordering in the US as businesses are scrambling to find the vehicles they need to keep their companies moving forward.  As of right now basically every vehicle used for business purposes is unavailable to order. Several models this year had the order banks open and close and on the same day, which we think basically means they were able to fill the new model year order banks with last years orders and they do not have production capacity to even get caught up with the current orders and do not have the ability to take any more. Most trucks and vans should be having their 2023 model year fleet order banks open between May and July this year. There is no guarantee that any models will actually have any production capacity but if you are a business looking for your best shot at getting the vehicles you need, we suggest getting everything together as far as specs and quantities needed NOW. Get with your trusted dealer and get on the order list as dates for order banks opening and closing are bound to be changed and the odds of the order banks being opened for a very short time are incredibly high this year.  If you are not ready to place the orders the second the banks open there is a good chance that you will miss out on another full year of new production vehicles.  Many customers are also asking about pricing but this too is very fluid at this point. Most manufacturers are having a significant price increase this year as well as cutting fleet and business incentives. This is very different from previous years as usually pricing and incentives are flushed out early in the new year and most fleets get protection from price increases throughout the model year. That as well is on the chopping block this year as the big 3 US automakers are discussing not offering price protection on their new fleet incentive packages. All in all it looks like another rough year for businesses needing to purchase new vehicles but like in most things in life luck will most likely favor the prepared.