F-150 Lightning

Make
Ford
Segment
Sports Car

The 2022 Ford Lightning configurator is now live following a price leak early in January. As a quick reminder, the Lightning is available in Pro, XLT, Lariat, and Platinum trims.

Pricing starts at $39,974 for the Pro and goes up to $90,874 for the Platinum. XLT and Lariat models allow you to select between a standard range and an extended range battery packs.

We decided to play around with the Lariat, as it's likely to be the one most people will buy. But we also had some fun with the Platinum to see how much you can spend on a Lightning. With a starting price of $90,874, it shouldn't take too much effort

The Lariat will be the likely choice for most private customers. Ford's XLT trim is nice enough, but it does without the 15.5-inch vertical touchscreen interface, which is the highlight of the interior.

The Lariat trim adds a bigger screen, leather seats, and a Bang & Olufsen sound system, to name just a few. We think it's worth the additional $14,500 Ford charges. The Lariat's price is also on par with the Rivian R1T.

The first thing we'd add is the 131-kWh extended range battery to get the maximum range of 300 miles. This adds $10,000 to the price but adds 70 miles of range. Oh, and 563 hp and 775 lb-ft of torque are available instantly.

The color palette is relatively pragmatic for such a critical truck, though there are enough visual clues to tell the Lightning apart from the ICE F-150. No-cost metallic options include Stone Gray, Agate Black, Iconic Silver, Atlas Blue, Antimatter Blue, Carbonized Gray, Iced Blue, and Oxford White. Smoked Quartz metallic tinted clearcoat adds $510 to the price.

Ford includes a set of 20-inch Dark Carbonized Gray wheels as standard, with no other options. We like a bit of contrast, and the wheels work well with Iced Blue.

They also contrast nicely with Rapid Red ($495), but, to our eyes, at least, the Lightning looks best in Star White metallic tri-coat, which adds $795 to the price.

There is only one optional package available for the Lariat, as it already includes most of the niceties as standard. The Max Trailer Tow Package adds $895 to the price and unlocks the Lightning's 10,000 lbs tow rating. As this is a lifestyle product, it's a must-have.

Ford also offers several standalone accessories, mainly for the bed. To make life easier, we'd have the tougher spray-in bedliner ($595) and the bed divider kit for $365.

The total comes to $80,994, which drops to $73,494 minus the $7,500 tax credit. As Ford received around 150,000 pre-orders, the tax cut won't be applicable for long. Factor in Mach-E sales, and you're looking at a year at the most.

As for the Platinum, we went with the $495 Rapid Red metallic. It works beautifully with the 22-inch machined alloys with black pockets. All of the optional packages for the rest of the range are standard on the Platinum, and you can only add a few standalone options.

We opted for the bed divider, a premium aluminum toolbox, spray-in bedliner, tire-pressure and camera monitoring for a trailer, max recline driver and passenger seats, and an in-vehicle safe.

With all these goodies, the Ford still undercuts the psychological $100,000 barrier. We maxed it out at $96,514. Even if you go for the most expensive color option and add all the accessories, the Lightning maxes out at $97,124.