Audacious Ford dealership charges massive US$69,554 markup for the F-150 Lightning ^↺

There is no doubt that the Ford F-150 Lightning is a wildly popular all-electric pickup truck with very impressive capabilities, which has understandably resulted in massive demand for the electrified version of the best-selling vehicle in the United States. However, prospective buyers are facing some fairly substantial obstacles as Ford has already stopped taking orders for the most affordable trims of the F-150 Lightning, while the little inventory that is available is often being sold at abnormally high prices.

A few months after we reported on an already unbelievable dealer markup of US$30,000 that affected some Ford F-150 Lightning reservation holders, a dealership in Fort Walton Beach, Florida has now escalated the untenable EV pricing situation by offering the electric truck for twice its regular price. According to a report by Electrek, a corresponding post in an F-150 Lightning Forum shows that the truck in question has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of US$69,554, and that the dealer installed a total of US$1,495 worth of accessories.

Furthermore, the dealership named Gary Smith Ford tacks on an enormous US$69,554 market adjustment, which results in a total sticker price of US$140,603 for this specific electric pickup truck. With an additional sales tax of around six percent, Floridians would have to pay a somewhat ironic price of approximately US$150,000 for the Ford F-150 Lightning, which is certainly out of range for all reasonable EV buyers. Ford has already warned its dealerships not to take advantage of the scarce supply of the electric pickup truck, and the Michigan-based automaker said it could reallocate its few available F-150 Lightning units to other dealerships who do not employ such overly greedy business practices. It remains to be seen if this particular profit-hungry Ford dealership in Florida will have to face similar consequences for charging such an outrageous dealer markup on the F-150 Lightning.

Update June 9

According to a post on Twitter, the Ford dealership in question has now claimed that the astronomical market adjustment on this specific F-150 Lightning was added by mistake. It remains unclear if these claims are truthful, but the sicker seen in the photo below has been removed after it was purportedly put on a demo vehicle that wasn't even for sale.

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