Ford Motor Company has announced plans to deliver 144,000 of its redesigned F-150 and Ranger pickup trucks to dealers across North America. These trucks were held back by Ford until now to address potential quality issues.
The company also revealed that shipments of the F-150 Lightning electric trucks paused since February, will resume this month. To further boost sales, Ford has reduced prices on some Lightning variants by up to $5,500.
These deliveries are crucial for Ford to meet its 2024 pre-tax profit target of $10 billion to $12 billion, a goal reaffirmed by the automaker last month. However, the delay in sending out these trucks may impact Ford’s first-quarter numbers, which are due on April 24th.
John Lawler, Ford’s Chief Financial Officer, stated last month that the company had 60,000 F-150s in stock ready for shipment in the current quarter. This cautious approach to vehicle launches follows a similar strategy implemented last year at its Kentucky Truck complex, which builds Super Duty pickups and Navigator large SUVs.
The decision to hold back the trucks stemmed from an analysis by Ford engineers, who found that certain electronic components in the F-150s were not shutting off or were consuming more power than expected. Ford resolved these issues by updating the problematic software before any trucks left the plant.
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