The Ford Lightning is back. And it’s electric.
We’re sure that last bit will piss a few of you off.
Yeah, one can argue it’s weird for the name that one was bestowed upon Ford’s high-performance pickup to now be put upon a truck with an electric motor instead of a bad-ass V8, but on the other hand, well lightning and electricity just go together. Not to mention that an electric truck can be a performance rig.
That latter part is actually more important — arguments about the name are one thing, but the question is, will the truck be any good? Will it be performance-oriented or simply an F-150 with an electric powertrain?
We won’t know until next Monday, May 19, at 9:30 EST.
That is when Ford will stream the unveiling live from Dearborn out across the world using social channels like Facebook and YouTube. Ford also says the unveiling will be beamed to New York’s Times Square and the Las Vegas Strip, presumably via electronic billboards. The company claims there will be more than 30 ways to watch the cover come off.
“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,” said Ford President and
CEO Jim Farley in a statement. “America’s favorite vehicle for nearly half a century is going digital and fully electric. F-150 Lightning can power your home during an outage; it’s even quicker than the
original F-150 Lightning performance truck; and it will constantly improve through over-the-air
updates.”
More from Farley: “The truck of the future will be built with quality and a commitment to
sustainability by Ford-UAW workers at the Ford Rouge Complex — the cathedral of American
manufacturing and our most advanced plant.”
That’s a lot of PR speak that tells us little that we don’t already know. The only real news nugget in the release is that production begins next spring at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.
For all the rest, we wait.
[Image: Ford]
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