One of the biggest bets Ford has taken in years is rolling off the Dearborn Truck Plant, four miles from the company’s headquarters. Ford is using the aluminum almost exclusively in the body of the 2015 version of its best-selling F-150 pickup
By switching from conventional steel bodies to aluminum, Ford engineers were able to trim as much as 750 pounds of mass from some F-150 models. That is expected to yield significant improvements in mileage when the EPA formally confirms tests on the new truck.
Ford says it has adopted military grade alloys for the body of the new truck, claiming the 2015 F-150 will actually be more ding and dent resistant than older ones made of steel. But despite claims that prototypes have undergone at least 10 million miles of testing, it remains to be seen how they will hold up long-term. Durability, reliability and cost of maintenance are three critical factors for many pickup buyers,
Ford produced a total of 647,697 of the trucks last year. Add heavy-duty models such as the F-250 and F-350 and Ford sold about 100,000 more pickups than its nearest competitor, General Motors, in 2013.
So far this year, one out of every three vehicles Ford sold in the U.S. was an F-Series pickup. Morgan Stanley estimates F-Series trucks account for 90 percent of Ford’s global automotive profit.
Next month the first of the new F-150s will reach U.S. showrooms.
