The end is near for Ford’s electric flagship – report

The Ford F-150 Lightning was promised to be a revolution when it launched in 2021, becoming one of the first electric pickups to go on sale in the US in 2022, and trading off the name of one of the best-selling models in the nation.

History will show that demand never directly translated to sales, and now a report by the Wall Street Journal claims Ford is looking to axe the F-150 Lightning early.

According to the report, insiders have claimed Ford executives are discussing whether to cut their losses on the F-150 Lightning, which was once planned to account for 150,000 sales a year due to pre-launch demand.

Between January and October 2025, Ford has sold just 24,577 examples of the electric pickup in the US, even less than the reduced circa-80,000 production figure which led to pauses in 2023.

While demand for the F-150 Lightning has never fully translated into sales, the repealing of EV incentives such as tax credits in the US is believed to be one of the final death knells for the model.

A planned second-generation F-150 Lightning is also understood to have been cancelled, with Ford now focused on its new EV platform which will debut in 2027 under a mid-size pickup – aka, a Ranger-sized ute.

Ford isn’t the first US brand to think about canning its electric pickup, with Ram recently announcing its battery-powered version of the 1500 wouldn’t go ahead. Instead, a range-extender will take its place.

Likewise, the Rivian R1T and Chevrolet Silverado EV have also struggled to make a meaningful impact on the sales charts, while Toyota hasn’t committed to launching an electric pickup just yet – unsurprising given its love of hybrids.

Even the Tesla Cybertruck has been branded as a flop, despite being one of the most highly anticipated and controversial new vehicles of the decade.

The F-150 Lightning isn’t officially sold in Australia by Ford, instead third-party firm AusEV converts it locally from left- to right-hand drive, with fleets and mining businesses the primary buyers of the electric pickup.