Ford hikes F-150 Lightning's price again to battle high costs

DETROIT: Ford Motor Co has raised the base price of its popular F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck again, the automaker's website showed on Thursday, the latest in a series of price hikes aimed at offsetting high costs.

The base variant of Ford's electric F-150 truck now starts at US$59,974 (RM265,000), excluding shipping and taxes, up nearly 50% from its starting price when launched last year.

The Detroit automaker resumed production of the F-150 Lightning earlier this month after recalling 18 electric trucks due to a battery-cell manufacturing defect.

Ford's hike comes after EV maker Tesla Inc ignited a price war this year by aggressively trimming prices.

A week earlier, Ford said its electric-vehicle business unit was expected to lose US$3 billion (RM13bil) this year, but remained on track to achieve a pre-tax margin of 8% by late 2026.

The company was not immediately available for further comment on the price increase, which was first reported by Automotive News on Thursday.