The Blue Oval company is not enjoying the success it anticipated when it first introduced its first-ever all-electric pickup truck, the Ford F-150 Lightning. The woes are big, indeed.
Released for the 2022 model year, the battery-powered model didn't have much competition during its first months – only the Rivian R1T posed a threat, while the massive GMC Hummer EV was a slow-selling disaster. Unfortunately for the F-150 Lightning, the climate changed drastically at the end of 2023 when Tesla introduced the highly-anticipated Cybertruck.
Combined with a slowdown in EV adoption, Ford suddenly discovered it now has more F-150 Lightning capacity than customers. Even worse, early last month in February 2024, the company halted all shipments due to a quality issue – just as it kicked off the first deliveries in a new market, Norway. Well, the Blue Oval is used to recalls, so they will probably sort it out.
However, to better face the looming threats – Ram's 1500 REV is coming before the end of the year, and GM might one day finally release the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV into the wild; it's best to hedge your bets. If this were early 2023, we would probably say that Ford is doing everything possible to get the teased 'Project T3' up to snuff for releasing the second-generation F-150 Lightning into the wild in 2025.
But the situation has changed drastically, and Ford might want to take some time to assess its EV strategy. As such, perhaps it's best to expect the traditional order of business where the F-150 Lightning first goes through the mid-cycle facelift procedure. At least, that's the opinion from across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.
Over there, the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube have imagined the CGI looks of the hypothetical 2025 or 2026 Ford F-150 Lightning refresh starting from the base of the 2024 Flash version, an expansion of the XLT with the extended-range battery for 320 miles, Ford's BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system, and a standard 15.5-inch touchscreen for infotainment control.
The channel's pixel master didn't have to work hard on this one, as most of the exterior changes are subtle – the unofficial renderings show a set of revamped vertical LED headlights, a larger surface for the LED strip, a 'radiator grille' dressed in the same color as the rest of the body, and subtly redesigned LED taillights. According to the host, more significant changes are expected in the cabin, where Ford might hypothetically adopt the current trends and merge the digital instrument cluster and central touchscreen into just one ultra-wide piece of OLEDs spanning two-thirds of the dashboard's width.
Additionally, the CGI expert hasn't forgotten about the channel's traditional color reel, and we also get a quick side-by-side comparison between the current 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning and the imagined 2025 or 2026 Lightning Flash. So, what do you think?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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