The Lightning release was a fiasco for a lot of reservation holders. The vast majority of us that were wanting the $39,999 SR Pro got punked by Ford. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and that's coming from basically an ambassador customer of 7 decades. I still burn a little when I think about it.
I'm obviously a hypocrite, to some extent, because I have purchased 3 Ford products since, including an EV. But NOT a Lightning, regardless of how much I liked and still like the Lightning. (It led me to purchase my very first ever GM vehicle in my life too. An EV truck, in fact)
So I'm totally OK with Ford choosing to take a completely different approach to options. I'm fine if they don't have 4 or 5 trim levels.
What I won't be fine with is if they pull the same stunt and deny reservation holder access to the very truck they use for hyping the new product. The base truck should be available in the numbers to meet demand.