2023 Ford F-150 Lightning Price Climbs to $58,514 | Daily News Byte

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When the Ford F-150 Lightning was first announced in May 2021, its starting MSRP of $39,974 seemed like a good deal. Now, with the power of hindsight, it was an absolute bargain. Ford raised the price before the official launch — then raised it again, and again, and then one more time after the order banks reopened.

Budget Friendly: Find a car under $20,000

The F-150 Lightning now costs $58,514 for its base model, a nearly $5,000 increase over the previous adjustment made in August, and approaching $20,000 more than the price promised in mid-2021. Ford assured to customers awaiting delivery that their price is locked and will not be affected by the new one.

However, this latest configuration is different than the previous ones. While previous price changes affected every trim level, the latest only affects the base trim. Other models cost the same as they have since August: the XLT starts at $66,014 and goes up to $82,869 with extended battery range; the Lariat starts at $76,369 and the top-end Platinum at $97,819.

In this additional context, the $5,000 increase may not be much. After all, the base model is $7,500 more affordable than the next trim level and more than $39,000 less than the Platinum. The Ford Lightning’s price range is so wide that $5,000 can seem like a drop in the bucket for those who can actually afford one.

Ford said the price increase is a response to market factors, supply-chain constraints, and rising material costs, otherwise known as inflation. Others may feel that Ford, seeing dealerships have been able to dump a huge markup on the Lightning, felt the car was underpriced. The underlying reason doesn’t matter as long as the consumer buys the product anyway.

As an NPR article helpfully analyzed, inflation is caused by many things — and at the root of it all is our insatiable need for goods regardless of their cost. The new Ford F-150 Lightning’s price may seem high, but it’s so high because Ford has good reason to believe people will still buy it.

Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout her life, she was constantly told that French was the language of romance, but it was English that she fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Stones, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just loves to write about it. Check out more of Kurt’s articles.