2015 Ford F-150 Aluminum body

[05OrangeSS]

More info dave

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@Big Boss"

2014 Detroit Auto Show: Ford unveils new F-150 truck

Ford Motor Co. will introduce the “reinvention” of its F-150 pickup truck at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Monday.

The automaker is gambling with its 2015 model year redesign of the truck – for decades America’s top-selling vehicle – eschewing the traditional steel for lightweight aluminum alloys.

The aluminum body – doors, hood, engine compartment, bed and tailgate – will be a first for full-size trucks and a rarity in the automotive world.

The switch to an aluminum body is a complicated and expensive undertaking for Ford, but shaves 700 pounds off the weight of the truck - with a big payoff in performance and efficiency.

“They are trying to leapfrog the competition on fuel economy,” said Stephanie Brinley, an analyst at IHS Automotive. “As we get closer and closer to the stricter government regulations, this is something all automakers have to deal with.”

Some consumers are likely to be skeptical that an aluminum truck is as tough as one made from conventional steel, Brinley said, making it incumbent on Ford to run a strong marketing program to assuage any fears.

Ford should be able to pull it off, said Larry Dominique, president of the ALG car valuation company and former vice president of product planning for Nissan North America.

“If this was 10 or 15 years ago, this was much harder,” Dominique said. “But Alcoa and other have developed some great tooling and welding processes for aluminum. There have been a lot of technological improvements.”

Ford can’t afford to make any mistakes with the truck, which serves as the automaker’s cash cow.

Each truck sale earns Ford about $11,000 e compared to $5,000 for a car, said Brian Johnson, an analyst with Barclays Capital.

Last year, the automaker sold 763,000 trucks in the U.S. That’s more sales than many major brands generate from their entire vehicle line-ups, including Dodge, Hyundai, GMC, Jeep and Kia.

Other analysts said the wholesale change in the pickup’s architecture was a risky but important move for the automaker.

“The new F150 will be the most important reveal in Detroit this year, not only because of its volume and market impact, but because it will establish a new standard for advanced design in the full-size truck segment,” said Karl Brauer of Kelley Blue Book, the auto information company.

He believes the new truck design will foreshadow other technological advances that will become commonplace in the automotive industry in the coming years.
That’s what Ford expects.

“The all-new F-150 redefines the future of trucks,” said Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company chief operating officer.

The changes in the new model include a second, smaller turbocharged V-6 engine. This new 2.7-liter V-6 engine is from the same “EcoBoost” family as the turbocharged four-cylinder that Ford recently dropped in its all-new Mustang and Lincoln’s MKC crossover.
The 2.7-liter unit inside the F-150 will also likely see use in other large Ford and Lincoln vehicles in the future. Ford has yet to release power figures for this, or any of the engines in the new F-150.

Meanwhile the 3.5-liter EcoBoost remains the top-dog in the F-150 lineup. Power will be similar to the outgoing model, which now has 365 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque.

Also available will be a base 3.5-liter V-6 engine, and a workhorse 5.0-liter V-8.

Other improvements include all-LED lighting on the outside of the truck; dampening on the tailgate hinges that slow its descent; and spotlights on the mirrors that can be targeted to light the trucks surroundings. New safety features include a 360-degree viewpoint that can be displayed on the dashboard monitor, a forward collision alert and a blind spot monitor to make lane changes easier.

The truck offers easier access to the second row of seats on the SuperCab model via a rear door that opens 170 degrees toward the back of the truck. There’s no central pillar separating the front and back doors.

Ford’s strategy is “a smart move” said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst at Gartner Inc. “This is the most strategically important vehicle for Ford. They need to make sure that it remains the most important vehicle going forward.”

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(Automobile Magazine)

2015 Ford F-150 Debuts At 2014 Detroit Auto Show

Yes, there’s an all-new 2015 Ford Mustang at the 2014 Detroit auto show, but the big news from the Ford stand is a production-ready 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck. The new truck comes exactly one year after Ford’s surprise introduction of the Atlas concept at the 2013 Detroit auto show. As was promised 12 months ago, the 2015 Ford F-150 hews closely to that concept car.

For starters, Ford made good on its promise that the 2015 Ford F-150 would go on a 700-pound diet. By using more high-strength steels, as well as a greater mix of aluminum, the new truck sheds an impressive amount of weight compared to its predecessor. Even so, Ford says the new F-150 will be just as tough and durable as before.

Another change that was widely expected is a smaller EcoBoost V-6 engine. Last year, Ford’s Raj Nair told us that a lighter F-150 could manage with a smaller, less-powerful engine. As a result, a new 2.7-liter turbocharged V-6 slots beneath the carryover 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost mill. Auto stop-start is standard, which will further help save fuel. (Stop-start is disabled if four-wheel drive is engaged or the vehicleis in tow/haul mode.) The EcoBoost engines also receive Ford’s Active Grille Shutters, which can close off the engine bay under certain conditions to improve aerodynamic performance. A 3.5-liter non-turbo V-6 engine replaces the previous truck’s 3.7-liter engine, and the F-150’s 5.0-liter V-8 engines will also carry over to the new model.

Other updates that were previewed on the Ford Atlas concept include LED headlights, mirror lights, and box lights; and slide-out loading ramps for the bed. The tailgate can be opened remotely from the key fob, and an updated tailgate step is said to be “virtually invisible when not in use.” A new 360-degree camera system, like the Nissan AroundView monitor, makes maneuvering easier, while the backup camera adds a Trailer Hitch Assist function that helps guide drivers to more quickly line up with a trailer. And for charging devices or powering tools on the go or on the job site, the bed features two 110-volt, 400-watt power outlets.

Updated Design
The 2015 Ford F-150 also looks a lot like the Atlas concept, and much of the styling seen here was visible in our many spy photos. A wide, tall front grille features three fat horizontal bars and a giant Blue Oval badge. The truck’s headlights, just as on the concept, wrap onto the front fenders and have a cutout section on the inner edges. Overall, the design of the 2015 Ford F-150 isn’t a huge leap forward, as the basic ruler-straight lines and angled windshield remain, but it is a smarter and more modern take the current F-150 look

The interior, too, is an update instead of a revolution, but that’s no bad thing. It is a smart and utilitarian design, and Ford stresses that all the knobs and switches can be used while wearing gloves, an important test for serious truck buyers. The air vents are now vertical and bookend the large touchscreen infotainment system, and they protrude from the dashboard with sharp angles. Tech toys include the latest versions of Sync and MyFord Touch, a new eight-inch LCD screen in the instrument cluster, adaptive cruise control, a blind-spot warning system, and a lane-departure prevention function. Also included are two safety features available on most other new Ford products, second-row inflatable seatbelts, designed to cushion back-seat passengers in a crash; as well as Curve Control, which automatically applies the brakes if the driver enters a turn too quickly.

Many Configurations, Many Engines
As before, Ford will offer countless configurations of the new F-150. There will be the familiar XL, XLT, Lariat, Platinum, and King Ranch trim levels; rear- or four-wheel drive; the aforementioned quartet of engines; an FX4 off-road package; and both monochrome and chrome visual treatments. And that’s before factoring in the various cab types, bed lengths, and other options that will ensure the Ford’s ordering guide remains a lengthy tome.

The Ford F-Series has been the best-selling truck in the U.S. for 37 straight years, and when the 2015 Ford F-150 goes on sale later this year, the company’s engineers hopes the model will continue to carry that torch.

[05OrangeSS]

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@Big Boss"

(Car And Driver)

2015 Ford F-150: Competitors Can’t Hold a Magnet to the Latest F-series
With an aluminum body and bed, the F-150 goes on a massive diet.

The importance of the new-for-2015 Ford F-150 pickup probably doesn’t need to be highlighted—but we like to write, so here’s a refresher: For the past 30-odd years, the F-150 has been the bestselling vehicle in the U.S., period. To you, this means you’ll see a lot of F-150s every day, old and new, doesn’t matter, you will see one—or 150. To Ford, having the F-150 is akin to having an obscure, rich uncle die every single year, leaving behind a pile of cash. It’s a constant—pretending for a moment that the Ford Motor Company has an endless annual supply of faceless, loaded, and doomed extended family members—there to add icing atop the balance sheet in good years and help prop up the company in the bad years.

With the F-150’s relatively comfortable sales dominance in both the pickup segment and the passenger-vehicle market overall, it would be understandable—smart, even—for Ford to simply nip the truck here and tuck it there and call the result “new.” However, with the 2015 F-150, Ford did not play this safe game; it instead turned the playbook upside-down and turned out a truly new product. For such a stoically American vehicle format, the pickup truck rarely invokes the word “revolutionary,” but we think Ford’s new workhorse might just have earned such consideration. That’s because instead of a steel cab, the F-150 has a lightweight (and surely pricey) aluminum cab, as we predicted, which chops up to a claimed 700 pounds from the truck’s curb weight.

Built Ford Tough, Audi Light

The pickup truck hasn’t evolved much; most still have a solid axle in back (and even up front), a ladder frame, and a whole heck of a lot of steel throughout. This isn’t a dig against the truck, though, since for the most part, the thing’s seemingly outdated features are precisely those that give it such capability. Ford looked at the truck’s layout and found that while steel is certainly useful in the frame, it’s not really that pertinent in the cab and bed. Enter the F-150’s aluminum cab and bed, which are bolted to a fully boxed steel frame. That frame, too, has seen a weight reduction, thanks to its higher mix of high-strength steel (77 percent, versus 23 percent in the outgoing rig), of 60 pounds. Don’t worry, hard-core haulers, Ford says the new chassis is more rigid, too, and it still rides on leaf springs in back and coil springs up front.

Consider us slightly skeptical of Ford’s claims until we weigh a 2015 F-150 for ourselves. We hope our skepticism proves unfounded, but it wasn’t long ago that Land Rover claimed its 2013 Range Rover—which switched to all-aluminum construction—cut nearly 900 pounds from the previous model’s weight, when in fact it was only a few-hundred-pounds lighter. Based on Ford’s claims, we figure base, two-wheel-drive 2015 F-150s will manage to easily slip beneath the 5000-pound mark.

Styling-wise, starting from the outside of the truck and working in, it’s clear Ford heard the positive ruckus made over its handsome Atlas concept. The 2015 F-150 more or less looks like a slightly toned-down and narrower version of that show truck, and we must say we dig it. Up front, there’s a bold and chunky face that’s visually taller and blockier than the current F-150’s and features more three-dimensional detailing. While there’s nothing really new between the truck’s face and its caboose, at least the caboose does get more styling attention than before. An angular panel spans the tailgate between the taillights, which, like the headlights, are more angular and seem to interlock with the surrounding sheetmetal. Available full LED head- and taillamps lend an upscale touch, and the tailgate can be damped—like the 2014 Chevy Silverado’s—and features a more integrated tailgate step.

Within that aluminum cab, the F-150 sees a commensurate uptick in style, with the exterior’s strong character echoed in the shapes on the dash and door panels. Again, three-dimensionality is the key phrase here, with angular HVAC vents protruding dramatically from the dashboard and higher trim levels even getting padded, stitched panels between the vents. The theme carries over to the doors, which have beefy grab handles and a multi-tiered look. Ford’s MyFord Touch touch-screen infotainment system is available, as is an eight-inch color driver display screen in the gauge cluster.

Shuffling Its Deck of Engines, Ford Draws Out Two New Ones

Ford isn’t taking the F-150’s slimmer physique, ahem, lightly when it comes to the truck’s engine choices. The automaker has adjusted the F-150’s quad-engine lineup to reflect its diet, downsizing the base V-6 engine to a 3.5-liter unit (from 3.7 liters) and paring its V-8 lineup in half, dropping the 6.2-liter V-8 in favor of just the 5.0-liter “Coyote” V-8. The 3.5-liter EcoBoost twin-turbo V-6 remains, but there’s now a compact 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6, too. The new EcoBoost also features twin turbocharging, as well as a light compacted-graphite-iron block like the F-series Super Duty’s 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel engine uses and a standard stop-start feature. The heads are aluminum to—you guessed it—further save weight, and it has a composite intake manifold.

We don’t yet have output figures for any of the F-150’s four engines, but we can at least button down the lowest power to expect from the carryover 5.0 V-8 and the 3.5-liter EcoBoost. Look for the eight to make at least 360 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque, while the 3.5-liter EcoBoost should make 365 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. At launch, all four engines will send power to either the rear or all four wheels via six-speed automatic transmissions, but don’t be surprised to see the new 10-speed auto Ford’s working on with GM to appear in the next few years.

Even Its Features Have Features

In recent years, the concept of the “luxury pickup truck” has caught on like the flu among journalists at the Detroit auto show, which is to say quickly. Ford, like its competitors in Auburn Hills and the Renaissance Center, knows this all too well, and is equipping the 2015 F-150 accordingly. Its options list includes stuff like adaptive cruise control, LED spotlights for the bed and side mirrors, a 360-degree parking camera, trailer-hitch assist (a backup camera add-on that helps guide drivers when backing up to a trailer), and a remote-locking tailgate. Ford doesn’t skimp on the safety front, either, and will offer lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring, second-row seatbelt airbags, and its signature Curve Control electronic stability control program that helps mitigate overzealous corner entry.

So far, Ford has announced five F-150 trim levels for when the truck goes on sale near the end of this year: XL, XLT, Lariat, Platinum, and King Ranch. Three bed lengths—5.5 feet, 6.5 feet, and 8 feet—are available, as are regular, extended Supercab, and four-door Supercrew cab styles. Base XL trucks come standard with a cloth bench seat and a 2.3-inch gauge cluster screen and a 4.2-inch dashboard display. All four engines are available, as is the choice of two- or four-wheel drive. Step up to the XLT for a chrome grille and bumpers, 17-inch wheels, and Ford’s SYNC system. The Lariat limits the engine choice to either the 2.7-liter EcoBoost or the 5.0-liter V-8 and brings standard 18-inch wheels, LED pickup bed lighting, a backup camera with trailer hitch assist, SYNC with MyFord Touch, and the eight-inch gauge-cluster display. Platinum models get standard leather seats, wood trim, 20-inch polished aluminum wheels, a Sony sound system, full-LED headlights and taillights, a satin-finished grille, and come only in the four-door Supercab body with the 5.0-liter V-8. Finally, the cowboy-themed King Ranch hits the scene with the usual leather and wood filigree, a unique grille, standard 5.0-liter, heated and cooled front seats (the rears and steering wheel are just heated), a remote tailgate release, LED spotlights, two-tone paint, and a 10-speaker Sony audio system.

Of course, choice has never been lacking in the pickup-truck game; lightweighting measures, however, have been. The boldness of Ford’s move to equip the F-150 with an aluminum body cannot be understated enough—especially with so much on the line. Should, for whatever reason, the choice to go aluminum go south on Ford, that decision could have very serious consequences for the company as a whole. We’re not hard-core truck guys, but to play devil’s advocate for a moment, there are quite a few ways this could happen. First, we could see buyers being wary of a truck that isn’t all steel. Aluminum is a softer metal than steel, and we’re curious to see how fleet customers respond to potentially higher cost of repairing or replacing aluminum components. Second, Ford has yet to reveal pricing for its fancy new F-150; if it wants to remain competitive, it can’t raise prices significantly. But can Ford make money charging roughly $22,000 for such an aluminum-intensive vehicle? If it continues to sell close to a million of the things per year, we see no reason it can’t—so here’s hoping customers embrace the bold, because as twisted as it sounds, Ford needs its uncles to keep dying, er, we mean, the F-150 to continue selling well.

[BOBBYGRV]

I really like this truck, so much that I regretfully engaged into a debate today with a dodge leg humper on FB. Needless to say, he defriended me and is now talking trash about me because I wanted to know why his dodge was better than the ecoboost motor. He never answered the question and kept calling me ignorant. I don’t know why I even bothered getting involved, but his only response for the aluminum body panels was that Ford needed to shed the extra body weight in order for the Ecoboost to be able to haul anything.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[deebo]

I like the interior, but I think the exterior is getting uglier and uglier each year. I would probably only get one in black just because the body color in between the lights is so horrible.

[Blue_Eyed_Devil]

Any word on an AlumiRaptor yet?

[1QIKZ]

Now if Ford could just fix my failing 6.0L Powerstroke diesel motor…and the rest of us with the same problem.

[Blue_Eyed_Devil]

Mine is a beast! ARP head studs and EGR delete FTW.

[llink78]

I drive around my bosses 2013 FX4 a lot during the winter with the Ecoboost. The thing is a blast and feels like a luxury car at the same time. Really thinking about upgrading to a truck after the wedding.

[ultradriver10000]

new cars are gay

[1QIKZ]

@Blue Eyed Devil

Mine is a beast! ARP head studs and EGR delete FTW.

EGR delete will be part of it along with oil cooler. I’ll take pics when the cab comes off and I pull the heads.

[ultradriver10000]

I think there is a kit that moves the oil cooler up front which helps

[Justin]

Space Frame Technology anyone? Only 17yrs behind Audi doing this. Not a fair comparison (Germany Luxury vs US Truck), but Audi stopped using the All Aluminum design in favor of composite materials on the A8. I wonder which process is cheaper.

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@Big Boss"

https://youtu.be/3yruDxkhKNI

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[TrueBlue]

Ugh. I REALLY like this truck. I have never needed (or wanted) a pickup before but I certainly need to look at them now.

[deebo]

I may have to get one of these in the fall… i looked thru the thread… but most of the pictures are 4 door extended cab with short bed. any long bed/4 door (handleless doors)?

[superfan99]

@deebo

I may have to get one of these in the fall… i looked thru the thread… but most of the pictures are 4 door extended cab with short bed. any long bed/4 door (handleless doors)?

The extended cab has suicide doors for the rear, that now open wider.

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[ultradriver10000]

^I like that I don’t know why chevy and dodge do the smaller regular style rear doors, they are so limiting.

[superfan99]

@ultradriver10000

^I like that I don’t know why chevy and dodge do the smaller regular style rear doors, they are so limiting.

Yeah, I guess the complaint on Ford’s doors were that the previous model only went to about 90 degrees, the new ones are 170. Seems like access is way easier this way.