Ford F-150 Lightning electric pick-up spied in Australia – and it’s not a private import

A left-hand-drive example of the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pick-up has been caught on camera in Melbourne weeks after the Australian launch of twin-turbo petrol V6 versions of the US pick-up.

And unlike a recent sighting of a right-hand-drive F-150 Lightning in Brisbane – which proved to be a privately-imported and converted vehicle – this example is owned by Ford Australia.

However Ford Australia says the vehicle is here for «engineering evaluation» only – and insists it is «not an indicator of Lightning being developed for the Australian market» as the pick-up «remains left-hand drive only».

The US car giant has previously expressed interest in bringing the F-150 Lightning here, although it is pending the success of the local left- to right-hand-drive conversion program for the regular twin-turbo V6 petrol Ford F-150 line-up.

Images posted to Facebook show a brown F-150 Lightning wearing stickers warning of its left-hand drive layout – and «engineering evaluation vehicle» status – recharging in a Melbourne car park.

Searching the Lightning's recent Victorian number plates on the VicRoads website returns an error message – a hallmark of evaluation vehicles on car-manufacturer registration plates.

«Ford's Australian Product Development team work on a wide variety of global vehicle programs, including many left-hand drive only vehicles for overseas markets,» a Ford Australia spokesperson said in a statement to Drive.

«The F-150 Lightning spotted on Melbourne roads recently is in Australia for engineering evaluation, and is not an indicator of Lightning being developed for the Australian market.

»Lightning remains left-hand drive only, and unavailable for sale in Australia. Customer deliveries of Ford Australia locally re-manufactured right-hand drive F-150 [petrol] variants will start shortly," the statement said.

The vehicle spied appears to be a Lariat model, available in standard-range form with a 386km claimed driving range and dual electric motors producing 337kW/1050Nm – or an extended-range battery enabling 515km of claimed range and 433kW/1050Nm from dual motors.

Another F-150 Lightning was seen in Queensland in September (below) – in right, not left-hand drive