EV truck battle heats up as Ford delivers first F-150 trucks; F stock goes up

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) seemingly delighted a retail customer in Standish, Michigan, by making its first delivery of the F-150 Lightning truck. Allegedly, the customer is a Tesla Model 3 owner who has put down a deposit on the Cyberturck; furthermore, he plans to use the F-150 in the woods. 

The production of the all-electric F-150 lightning began in April, with only a handful of deliveries made to dealers and fleet customers so far. 

Meanwhile, the shares of Ford were rising in the pre-market session on May 27 at the time of writing, following on from yesterday’s 3.23% climb.

Ford’s big plans

Recently, the company decided to split its EV operations from the legacy part of the company, which was intended to make the company leaner and quicker to adapt. Now, with the first delivery of the F-150, the proposals are to produce 160,000 units from their Rouge Electric Vehicle Center annually.

However, for 2022, the plan is to produce 40,000 F-150 Lightning trucks to get a jump on the electric truck market above the likes of the Cybertick, Silverado Electric, and R1T. 

In general, the company shares weren’t performing all that well in 2022, as some analysts cast doubts on Ford’s EV plans. Shares are down over 35% year-to-date (YTD), with a slight recovery in the last session. Yet, the shares remain below all daily Simple Moving Averages, with no significant volume spikes noted during trading sessions in the month of May.   

To be sure, analysts are rating the shares as a moderate buy, with average price predictions for the next 12 months at $19.94, representing an increase of 51.98% from the current trading price of $13.12.

It seems as if the electric truck battle is just starting with Ford throwing the first punch, possibly surprising Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN). 

However, facing such stiff competition, F will have to stick to what has made the F-150 one of the most popular trucks of all time. If they manage to pull it off, it will be for the benefit of customers and shareholders worldwide. 

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