Ford Shares Get Boost as Company Names New F-150 Electric Pickup

Automaker Ford revealed this week that it has named its new F-150 electric pickup Lightning.

The truck is expected to be revealed on May 19th and has a name that was used by Ford for street performance trucks in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The F-150 Lightning will be unveiled at 9:30 p.m. EDT on May 19th at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn. The event will be livestreamed.

Ford said that the unveiling will be broadcast across social media platforms as well as 18 high-profile public spaces such as Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Ford CEO Jim Farley stated, “Every so often, a new vehicle comes along that disrupts the status quo and changes the game … Model T, Mustang, Prius, Model 3. Now comes the F-150 Lightning.”

He added, “America’s favorite vehicle for nearly half a century is going digital and fully electric.”

Farley said the truck would be able to “power your home during an outage” and that “it’s even quicker than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck; and it will constantly improve through over-the-air updates.”

The company said production of the pickup is scheduled to begin next spring at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan. It’s expected to arrive in dealerships by mid-2022.

Ford’s F-Series is second only to the iPhone when it comes to branded consumer product sales, according to an economic analysis last summer from the Boston Consulting Group.

“The Ford F-150 is the single highest volume vehicle sold in the U.S. and has been for years,” market analyst Jon Gabrielsen told the USA TODAY Network’s Detroit Free Press in June of 2020.

Shares of Ford were flat on Monday and jumped about 1%, to $11.91, in midday trading when the news hit.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.