Ford mulls scrapping production of F-150 Lightning electric ute

American car giant Ford is reportedly considering scrapping the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, or ute as it is known in Australia.

The Wall Street Journal  reported last week that executives at Ford Motor is in “active discussions” about scrapping the F-150 Lightning, quoting “people familiar with the matter”. It comes just a month after the company said it was pausing production. The unnamed sources had little else to say about these discussions except that no final decision has been made.

If true, the death of the Ford F-150 Lightning could spell trouble for electric pickup trucks, or utes, in the United States.

Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning in May of 2021 and delivered the first model a year later. It has never been officially released in Australia although some specialist importers have brought in some models, mostly for industrial and mining clients.

At launch, the F-150 Lightning boasted driving range of 370 kilometres for the base level, and up to 480 kilometres for the extended range option. The tech-heavy Flash model with an extended-range battery delivering range of up to 515 kilometres was brought to market in late 2023.

But despite huge interest and expectations at launch and over the first few years of its lifespan, the F-150 Lightning has failed to deliver on the promise of a “smartphone that can tow 10,000 pounds” – a claim made by Ford CEO Jim Farley at the car’s launch.

Despite promises that the car would sell around the $US40,000-mark, actual prices were closer to $US50,000 for the base-level model, and up to $US90,000 for higher end models.

Demand has therefore been lacklustre, and the car has subsequently been costing Ford billions since 2023. The future is even less rosy, with sales that are already well below expectations set to suffer from the withdrawal of government support for electric vehicles.

The writing may have been on the wall last month when Ford announced that it has pausing production of the F-150 Lightning.

Announced in late October, Ford first blamed the decision on a fire at one of its aluminium suppliers’ factories but matched that explanation with a concurrent ramp up of production of its F-150 gas and hybrid models, citing “strong customer demand” and claiming that these models “are more profitable for Ford and use less aluminium”.

If Ford does in fact scrap the F-150 Lightning, it will likely take solace from reports across the industry in the US. Executives at crosstown rival General Motors (GM) have reportedly been discussing discontinuing its own electric trucks, according to more unnamed people “familiar with the matter”.

Another big-name rival, Stellantis, announced in September that it was cancelling its own plans for an electric pickup, citing the slowing of “demand for full-size battery electric trucks” in North America for its axing development of the RAM 1500.

Meanwhile, Tesla has seen sales of its Cybertruck pickup plummet in 2025.

According to numbers from Cox Automotive published last month, Tesla sold only 5,400 Cybertrucks in the third quarter, down 62.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier, bringing the total number sold so far in 2025 to only 16,000 – well behind the 250,000 a year that CEO Elon Musk once declared was possible.

Similarly, EV truck maker Rivian announced late last month that it was having to cut over 600 employees. Rivian has experienced weakening demand in its home market, and expects this will only worsen following the end of US tax credits that took $US7,500 off the price.