By Joseph Blanc
DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford said on Thursday it would begin shipping to North American dealers 144,000 of its redesigned F-150 and Ranger pickup trucks that it has built but held back until now in an effort to avoid quality problems.
Ford said it would also resume shipments this month of F-150 Lightning electric trucks that it halted in February. Ford this week slashed prices on some Lightning variants by up to $5,500.
The wave of big F-150s, Ford’s best-selling model, and mid-size Ranger trucks will be key to Ford hitting its pretax profit target of $10 billion to $12 billion for 2024. The automaker reaffirmed this goal last month.
The delay in sending trucks to dealerships could affect the automaker’s first-quarter figures due April 24.
Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler told investors last month that the company had 60,000 F-150s in inventory and planned to ship them in the current quarter.
The automaker first tried a slow approach to vehicle launches last year at its Kentucky Truck complex that builds Super Duty pickup trucks and large Navigator SUVs. Ford paid nearly $4.8 billion to cover warranty repairs in 2023, according to its annual report.
In the case of the redesigned F-150s, Ford engineers analyzing data from stock trucks discovered that some electronic components were not turning off or were using more power than expected, Ford said. “Engineers updated the problematic software before the trucks left the factory,” the company said in a statement.
Ford shares rose 8 cents a share, or less than 1 percent, to $13.14 a share in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Joe White, editing by Nick Zieminski and Jane Merriman)
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