2023 Ford F-150 Lightning just became more expensive ... again

Ford has only been delivering the F-150 Lightning for a few months, but the truck has already seen a steep price increase. In August, the automaker boosted prices by significant amounts across the board, with some trims seeing as much as an $8,500 jump. Now, Ford’s increasing the Lightning’s cost again, and the base Pro model isn’t looking so affordable anymore.

The good news is that current reservation holders won’t be affected by the almost 11 percent increase in base pricing for the truck. The bad news is that the Lightning Pro now starts at nearly $52,000, a far cry from the shockingly reasonably sub-$40,000 price tag Ford initially pitched. The top-end Lightning Platinum now starts at around $97,000, around a five percent increase from the 2022 model year.

Price increases are frustrating for buyers and make automakers look bad, but Ford doesn’t have much choice if it wants to maintain profit margins on new trucks. Everything is more expensive, and global supply chains aren’t operating at full tilt due to war, COVID-19, and other factors. The challenges are especially acute for electric vehicles because raw battery materials like lithium and cobalt prices have doubled in the last couple of years.

Ford is hardly the only automaker with EV production cost woes. Tesla has raised prices multiple times, with some models adding thousands to their bottom line. Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk said inflation had become worse than expected and noted that he believed the challenges would continue through 2022.