According to media reports, Ford announced on April 11th that it would begin delivering 144,000 new F-150 and Ranger pickup trucks to North American dealers.
Ford also stated that this month, the company would resume deliveries of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup, with some F-150 Lightning models seeing price reductions of up to $5,500. Previously, Ford had paused deliveries of the F-150 Lightning in February of this year.
The F-150 full-size pickup and Ranger mid-size pickup are Ford's best-selling models, and their sales will play a crucial role in whether the company can achieve its pre-tax profit target of $10 billion to $12 billion for 2024, a goal Ford reaffirmed last month.
Delays in truck deliveries to dealers could potentially impact Ford's first-quarter data, set to be announced on April 24th. Ford's CFO stated last month to investors that the company currently has 60,000 F-150s in inventory and expects to ship them out this quarter.
Last year, Ford's Kentucky Truck plant slowed down vehicle deliveries, responsible for producing Super Duty pickups and Navigator full-size SUVs. Ford's annual report indicated the company paid nearly $4.8 billion in warranty repair costs in 2023.
Ford stated that in the new F-150 models, engineers discovered during analysis of inventory trucks' data that some electronic components were not shutting down or were consuming more power than expected. Ford mentioned in a statement, "Engineers updated the problematic software on all trucks before they left the factory."
On April 11th, Ford's stock price rose by 8 cents in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, less than a 1% increase, closing at $13.14 per share.
