Ford tells dealers not to sell F-150 Lightning demo vehicles too quickly or they will face fines

Ford is letting its dealers know that they shouldn’t rush in to sell their F-150 Lightning demo units – even though the demand is high – or they will face some repercussions.

The demand for the F-150 Lightning is extremely strong.

Ford received about 200,000 reservations, and they even stopped taking them because it represented more than a year of planned production. Part of the appeal is the price of the electric pickup truck, but the final price is always determined between the buyer and the dealership.

As we previously reported, some Ford dealers were taking advantage of the strong demand for F-150 Lightning and marking it up by up to $30,000.

Ford has warned dealers who are taking advantage of the situation, but there’s not much they can do when it comes to the final prices. One of the automaker’s main weapon is to limit future allocations, which are already limited if until it can ramp up production of the electric pickup truck.

Now, the automaker is even warning dealers who would be tempted to cell their demo units (FCTP Mannequin unit).

Ford wrote in a communication to dealerships shared on the F150 Lightning Forum:

Dealers receiving a 22MY F-150 Lightning Mannequin unit will begin taking delivery mid-May 2022. Assigned Mannequin units will be built and shipped in phases based on commodity availability. Not all F-150 Lightning Mannequin units will be shipped at the same time.

Then the automaker warned about selling those units:

The sale of any F-150 Lightning FCTP Mannequin unit to a final customer prior to meeting all in-service requirements will result in a penalty of $25,000, unless the FCTP Mannequin unit can be replaced with another F-150 Lightning within 90 days. It will also result in the unit being ineligible for any retail bonus cash incentives and chargeback of any FCTP 3-60/90/120 Day incentives and will result in dealer ineligibility for future FCTP Mannequin programs.

This should allow more people the chance to go and see the F-150 Lightning in person at those dealers and even try it in some cases.

However, taking one home should prove difficult for the next year, as Ford works through its backlog of reservations.

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