Ford Motor Co. held a livestream event today to kick off production of the highly anticipated F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.
Held at the automaker’s new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, CEO Jim Farley said they plan to build 150,000 Lightnings per year by 2023 at the facility.
That is up from the initial 80,000 unit volume targeted to meet higher than expected demand. Ford shut down reservations earlier late last year after accumulating more than 200,000.
Farley said the start of Lightning production sets the company on a path to producing and selling 600,000 EVs by the end of next year, and more than 2 million by 2026.
With those lofty ambitions, Farley said Ford will challenge Tesla and become to top EV maker in the world.
Many of those will be built at their Blue Oval Manufacturing Complex in Stanton, Tennessee, which Farley says will also build their next-generation battery electric F-Series truck in 2025.
Farley didn’t provide any further details on the new EV.
The first F-150 Lightning trucks are expected to arrive at dealers in the US in the next few weeks.
You can watch the livestream event below.
