DETROIT — Ford CEO Jim Farley on Tuesday said the vehicle that the automaker intends to build at its upcoming Blue Oval City campus in Tennessee will be an additional electric pickup and not a next-generation F-150 Lightning.
Speaking to reporters following the launch of the Lightning, Farley said the product will be an “all-new” vehicle.
“It’s another truck,” he said. “This is not our only truck. We said very clearly we want to be the leader in electric pickup trucks.”
In a release last year announcing Blue Oval City, Ford said it would build “next-generation electric F-Series pickups.” The plant is expected to come online in 2024.
The automaker plans to sell 600,000 electric vehicles globally over the next two years to become the No. 2 EV maker behind only Tesla. After that, Farley says Ford plans to challenge Tesla to be the top producer of EVs.
Farley said Ford has built about 2,000 Lightnings since production began about two weeks ago. He said the first models would be going out “in the coming days” and will be for fleet customers.