Ford’s decision to drop the F-150 Lightning has been blamed for the collapse of AusEV, the company responsible for importing the electric pick-ups to right-hand drive for sale in Australia.
The business responsible for importing the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pick-up into Australia and converting it to right-hand drive (RHD) has gone under, blaming Ford for its woes.
BOSSCAP Group Pty Ltd was placed into administration on March 17, attributing its collapse to Ford ending production on the all-electric F-150 Lightning that its subsidiaries, Advanced Manufacturing Queensland and AusEV, had been converting to right-hand drive and selling locally.
The AusEV operation is unrelated to Ford Australia’s remanufacturing of petrol-powered F-150 pick-ups for sale in local showrooms, and was not covered by the US car giant’s five-year factory warranty.
“A sudden change in global production strategy from Ford materially impacted the availability of the underlying platform the business relied on. This decision which was outside Bosscap’s control,” it said in a statement on LinkedIn.
MORE: 2021-2023 Ford F-150 Lightning recalled in Australia over reverse light fault
It is unclear how many F-150 Lightning pick-ups – converted to right-hand drive at the firm’s facilities in Queensland – have been sold by the operation, either at its regular price of $169,900 plus on-road costs, or its discounted runout RRP of $109,990.
Financial documents provided to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) indicate the company was already in a precarious position prior to Ford’s decision, with “material uncertainty” over the business’s ability to continue operating due to high debts.
In documents uploaded in December 2025, BOSSCAP and its businesses claimed to have received “formal confirmation” two months earlier that it had official supply and support from Ford’s Global Fleet Sales operation to supply the F-150 Lightning to the mining industry in Australia.
However, Ford announced in December 2025 that production of the fully-electric F-150 would cease, jeopardising the Australian business overnight.
The F-150 Lightning will return in the US as an extended-range electric vehicle, which still drives its wheels with electric motors, but fits an engine and fuel tank to generate energy to keep the battery charged.
MORE: 2021-2023 Ford F-150 Lightning recalled in Australia over reverse light fault
AusEV said last year that it planned to introduce the F-150 Lightning range-extender, once it arrives in US showrooms.
BOSSCAP also owns Advanced Manufacturing Queensland, which has a partnership with Hyundai to convert its Xcient Fuel-Cell hydrogen truck to right-hand drive.
It also had a collaboration with Pure One for the “supply, assembly and sales of zero-emission vehicles in Australia,” listed as grounds for the business’s ability to continue operating.
The collapse of BOSSCAP follows closely in the footsteps of MEVCO, a similar business that had most recently been trying to sell left-hand-drive Rivian R1T electric utes to mining operations, but shut up shop in September 2025, owing creditors millions.
MORE: F-150 and Ram lead 2025 sales slump for US pick-up trucks in Australia
The conversion of American vehicles from left-hand drive to right-hand drive is one of the last bastions of automotive manufacturing remaining in Australia, since the last locally-built Holden Commodore came off the line in October 2017.
Melbourne-based Walkinshaw Automotive Group is contracted to remanufacture the Ram range, Chevrolet Silverado, and Toyota Tundra from left- to right-hand drive for their manufacturers.
Ford contracts a Thailand-based company RMA to convert the non-electric F-150 to RHD in Australia, but does so in a facility near Melbourne.
Walkinshaw, as well as firms such as Premcar, also develop and complete the assembly of high-end off-road versions of popular dual-cab utes such as the Isuzu D-Max and Nissan Navara in factories near Melbourne.
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