2015 Ford F-150 makes its Detroit Auto Show debut

Eco-conscious truck fans rejoice-- 2015 Ford F-150 packs a powerful punch without guzzling gas. With turbocharging and direct-injection technologies combined with up to 30 mpg highway fuel economy and a light aluminum body, this may make Ford a contender with gas-conscious car consumers.

|
Carlos Osorio/File/AP
Ford unveils the new F-150 with a body built almost entirely out of aluminum. at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014.

The all-new 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck, the latest version of America’s best-selling vehicle, has been revealed on the eve of the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. The new workhorse is radically different to anything we’ve seen before in the full-size pickup market, as it features a body that’s mostly aluminum and an available engine that displaces just 2.7 liters.

In designing the backbone of the F-150, Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] engineers improved the truck’s signature fully boxed ladder frame, which now incorporates high-strength steel to make it stronger and lighter. Aluminum, featuring a similar grade to that used in the military and aerospace industry, has been applied to the body, helping to save upwards of 700 pounds from the kerb weight.

Other tech goodies include a 360-degree surround view camera system, integrated loading ramps, LED lights, a trailer hitch assist and smart trailer tow module, and high-wattage power outlets (400 watts, 110 volts) in the cab.

In the engine department, buyers of the 2015 F-150 have four options to choose from. New to the F-150 nameplate is a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine. This engine will also come with a stop-start system to further save fuel  and is said to be comparable with “mid-range V-8s” in the power stakes thanks to turbocharging and direct-injection technologies. Fuel economy for the highway is tipped to be as much as 30 mpg. 

Separately, a new 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V-6 functions as the base engine for the lineup, and is joined by a 3.5-liter EcoBoost unit as well as a 5.0-liter V-8. The standard transmission across the range is a six-speed automatic.

The rolling chassis otherwise bears no surprises as great as the materials up above; with its front coil-on-shock and double-wishbone setup, and Hotchkiss-type live setup with leaf springs in back, it’s all conventional. Steering is handled by rack-and-pinion gear, with electric boost, and there are four-wheel vented disc brakes.

You can bet a Baja-inspired SVT Raptor variant is waiting in the wings. In developing the new 2015 F-150, Ford even ran a disguised prototype in the Baja 1000. In the interim, an FX4 Off-Road package will have to suffice, bringing skid plates, off-road-tuned shocks, and an electronic locking rear axle.

Fuel economy, power outputs and pricing for the Ford F-150 will be revealed closer to the vehicle’s launch later in the year, but you can also gather more details from the extensive preview over at the The Car Connection.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 2015 Ford F-150 makes its Detroit Auto Show debut
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0113/2015-Ford-F-150-makes-its-Detroit-Auto-Show-debut
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe