Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) shares rose Tuesday after the company announced it had resumed assembly of its F-150 Lightning electric truck.
The automaker plans to triple its production rate at its Dearborn, Michigan facility, potentially reaching an annualized rate of 150,000 vehicles by the end of the quarter on October 31.
Ford has also added 1,200 workers to the Lightning assembly system and plans to run it on a three-shift work rotation.
The ramp-up in production is a real test of how ready and willing consumers are to make the leap to electric trucks. Accordingly, Ford dealers will need to drive monthly sales about three times higher than the 4,000 monthly vehicles the automaker said it sold earlier in 2023.
Retail customers are also now able to order the least expensive F-150 Lightning Pro, a version of the truck originally designed for commercial customers that sells for $49,995.
Half of new Lightning orders are for its mid-level XLT model, which retails at $54,995, the chief customer officer for Ford's Model-e electric vehicle business said on a conference call.
However, just last week Ford said it expects its EV division to lose $4.5 billion in 2023, 50% more than previously anticipated.
Shares of Ford traded 1.6% higher Tuesday afternoon at $13.42.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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