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The Ford F-150 Lightning is currently out of production and its future remains dark.
The all-electric pickup was sidelined due in part to an aluminum shortage that forced Ford into assigning all of its supplies to the more profitable internal combustion engine F-Series models.
That situation is expected to continue well into 2026 and the Wall Street Journal reports that F-150 Lightning production may never restart, as the automaker focuses its efforts on an upcoming small electric pickup that’s scheduled to go on sale in 2027.
The relatively cheap truck will be built in Kentucky with a target price near $30,000. Aside from confirming its existence, Ford hasn’t revealed much about it, other than to say it will be as quick as a turbocharged Mustang.
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It did release one teaser video, which includes the vehicle covered by a sheet that allows some of its shape and details to show through.
In another cropped shot, a technician is polishing the front end of the pickup, which has its hood open. It’s not a lot to go by, but American Cars And Racing has discovered something else that may draw a more complete picture.
A recently published Ford patent application for an Extendable Vehicle Cargo Bed includes sketches of an entire truck that shares some of the features seen in the teasers. Its slim Mustang-style headlights, chamfered hood and the shallow rake of its windshield make it look very similar to the pickup under the sheet’s design.
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It’s also identified in the patent as an “electrified vehicle” and has doors with frameless windows, unlike any of Ford’s current pickup models.The patent is about a specific feature, though, and it’s a neat one. The rear wall of the cabin can be opened in a variety of ways to extend the bed, in something of an alternate version of the Multi-Flex Tailgate featured on GM’s electric trucks.
In Ford’s design, the floor of the bed extends into the cabin beneath the rear seats. The “cab back assembly” can then be shifted forward to reveal the interior section of the floor and lengthen the bed for long items. The bottom section of the assembly can also be folded forward independently of the rear window.
Ford is also working on a second generation full-size electric pickup under the T3 codename that is scheduled to succeed the F-150 Lightning in 2026, so this could potentially be an early depiction of that. However, other patents suggest that may have a far more radical design, with a blunt front end that gives it an extreme aerodynamic profile. Farley has referred to it as a “Millennium Falcon” in appearance.
Of course, the designs and ideas found in patents don’t always make it into products, so there are no guarantees that any of these will. We should know more about the $30,000 pickup soon, however, as a reveal is expected sometime next year.
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