Ford Ready to Ship Thousands of F-Series Pickups Thanks to Chip Shipment

Quite a few Ford F-Series buyers will be happy to know that their new pickups could finally be arriving soon.

Like every other automaker out there in the world, Ford has struggled to produce vehicles over the last several months due to the semiconductor chip shortage. While Ford has focused on producing its most profitable and strategically important vehicles, even the automaker’s proverbial cash cow – the F-Series line of pickups – has been affected by the shortage, as thousands of Ford F-150 and Super Duty trucks have been partially built and are currently sitting in parking lots awaiting chips. Now, it seems that quite a few of them will be shipping soon, however.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Ford recently received a large batch of semiconductor chips and intends to install them in those parked F-Series pickups in Detroit, Missouri, and Kentucky. The move comes as Ford just released its sales figures for June, which showed that the automaker’s sales plunged 26.9 percent year-over-year, with F-Series sales falling 29.9 percent, as inventory has simply dried up.

“We’re working to get chips into F-Series pickups and get them out to dealers. That’s our first priority,” Erich Merkle, U.S. sales analyst at Ford, told the Free Press. “We’ll see our inventories improve. It’ll take time but stock will gradually start to improve the second half of the year.”

Merkle admitted that Ford’s inventory levels are at record lows at the moment as the chip shortage has drug on. Earlier in the year, the automaker enjoyed sales increases as consumers flocked to dealerships with cash in hand as the pandemic eased up, but now, there simply isn’t much left to buy, particularly more popular models like the F-150 and Super Duty.

Regardless, Merkle admits that Ford won’t be able to rebuild its inventory levels back to pre-pandemic levels until next year. In the meantime, buyers are paying at or over MSRP for new trucks in many cases, driving Ford’s average transaction price up $6,400 from last year to $47,800 per vehicle. Needless to say, now is not a good time to purchase a new vehicle, if you can even find what you’re looking for on a dealer lot.

Photos: Ford

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Brett Foote

Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.

He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.