Ford Works Solutions caters to the kinds of commercial builders and workmen who will buy trucks no matter what state the economy is in because of one simple fact: they need them. Its four main features -- Internet access with limited Office functionality, Tool Link, Crew Chief, and Cable Lock -- are meant to not only help owners and workers look after their trucks, but also look after the tools necessary to do their jobs. As usual, that kind of convenience is going to cost you.
You can get all four features installed for $2,815 on regular and Super Duty F-150s. To that cost you add the monthly charges: Crew Chief is $16 or $20 per month per vehicle for a minimum of three years; Internet through Sprint is either $25 or $50 per month plus taxes and fees; and LogMeIn, used to access the desktop back at the office, is an optional $50 per year. If you went for the full functionality of Works Solutions you'd spend about $80 after taxes on the service, which isn't exactly nothing, but not bad considering how much the extra knowledge is worth and how much tools cost nowadays.
Realistically, Motor Trend had two choices when it came time to pick its Truck of the Year for 2009. On one hand, Ford's redesigned F-150 has been the best seller in America for, well... decades, and offers tireless capabilities and hundreds of possible configurations at an affordable price. It's never been better. On the other hand, the latest Dodge Ram, also redesigned for 2009, features that truck's characteristically macho styling turned up to 11 and gets the segment's first-ever set of coil-overs propping up the rear axle. It too has never been better.
The other two contenders were the Suzuki Equator, which is really nothing more than a rebadged Nissan Frontier (not that it's a bad truck, mind you) and the HUMMER H3T, which is a perfectly fine vehicle that's cursed with a currently-hated nameplate and a reputation for a major thirst for fuel. As you can tell from the headline, the Blue Oval's truck emerged the winner after a process that Motor Trend describes as the closest vote in history.
A bitingly cold wind is sweeping through the Motor City this day, but the bigger chill continues to be the rapidly increasing number of idle plants from Detroit's automakers. As part of a previously-announced bid to trim first-quarter output by nearly 38%, Ford now says it will shut down ten North American factories the week of January 5. Unlike Chrysler's planned one month downtime (where they eerily won't commit to start dates), the Blue Oval has confirmed plans to re-light the fires in eight of those plants beginning the week of January 12.
That means that during the week of January 5, Ford's only active North American plants will be in Dearborn (F-150), and Kansas City (F-150, Escape/Mercury Mariner). The week of January 12 will see all facilities up save Hermosillo, Mexico (Fusion, Milan, Lincoln MKZ) and Oakville, Ontario, where the Flex, Edge, and MKX are built. Ford is angling to cut down its quarterly output to just 430,000 vehicles, and shutdowns at staggered intervals are expected to continue throughout early next year.
The sales of pickup trucks seemingly rise and fall in unison with gas prices. For instance, Ford's newly-redesigned F-150 is selling well enough right now that the Blue Oval has added an extra shift of production at its assembly plant in Kansas City, MO along with approval for scheduled overtime. An extra shift is also being planned for the Dearborn assembly plant. These are the types of "problems" that automakers don't mind dealing with after a successful new product launch.
This sales increase begs an obvious question: just how short is the memory of the average American? The answer is debatable – how much of the uptick is due to lower gas prices and how much is attributable to the truck's redesign? What's more, sales are still down considerably from their peak in 2004, so the pickup market may just be right-sizing itself in the wake of a down housing market, high priced gasoline and the ongoing credit crunch. We'll see for sure in the coming months, but a familiar nameplate is back on top of the sales heap for November at least.
We recently told you how the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor fared competing in the Baja 1000. The Blue Oval's new super duper off-roader finished third in the Class 8 division, which is impressive considering it was built for the lower level Stock Full class in which it couldn't compete this time because the production version is not yet for sale. We've gone for a ride in the Raptor through the deserts of Nevada, but after looking through the gallery below, our experience probably wasn't as much fun as piloting the truck through 631 miles of the Baja Desert. Clearly the Raptor's first foray into competitive motorsports involved spending a lot of time with all four wheels either off the ground or in water up to its lug nuts. Check out the gallery below for more action shots of the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor doing what it was designed for.
Ford's rear view camera system is unique in that it displays video at bumper level in the rear view mirror as opposed to the navigation system. We found Ford's system to work well when we tested it, and customers appreciate the fact that they can purchase the system without also buying an expensive navigation system. Ford is looking to sell a lot more rear view camera systems, too, as the Blue Oval is doubling its availability in models for 2009. The rear view camera will find its way onto 75% of Ford models by the end of next year, including most trucks, SUVs and crossovers. The system will also be available on the new Ford Mustang, which Ford says is the only rear camera on a sports car. The rear camera system works really well on trucks and SUVs, where the size of the vehicle often makes it impossible to see what's going on at bumper level. Ford is already seeing twice the take rate of the $695 option in the 2009 F-150 vs. the 2008 model.
When Ford developed the F-150 SVT Raptor R, the Blue Oval wanted to make sure that it could offer the ultimate in off-road performance. We were pretty much sold after experiencing the truck in the Nevada desert, but Ford wanted to prove the Raptor's capabilities to the world. So Ford entered a modified version of the truck into the Baja 1000, confident that the race-ready Raptor could hold its own in the 631-mile competition. The SVT team entered with realistic expectations, hoping to simply finish a race that has a knack for providing unexpected challenges at every turn. Mission: accomplished. The SVT Raptor not only crossed the finish line, but it did so with flying colors by finishing third in the Class 8 division. This is especially impressive considering the Raptor is built for the lower-level Stock Full class in which it couldn't compete because the production version is not yet for sale.
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Yesterday we told you that the new Ford F-150 was selected by the Texas Auto Writers Association as the Truck of Texas. However, it turned out there were two seemingly contradictory press releases on the Ford and Chrysler web sites both laying claim to the title. As always, the devil is in the details. Apparently, they do things different in Texas. At the annual TAWA Truck Rodeo they pick winners in a dozen different categories for pickups, SUVs and CUVs. They do something similar in dog shows where they select the best of each breed. However, in dog shows they bring out the best of each breed and select a best in show. You might think that TAWA would look at their category winners and select a best of overall vehicle to be deemed the "Truck of Texas." Not quite. We consulted universally acknowledged pickup truck expert Mike Levine for a little information about what goes on in Texas. Apparently, being selected the best in category is not a prerequisite for being the best overall truck in Texas. Mike likened it to being selected as best album at the Grammy's versus the best rock album. It seems like if the F-150 is the best overall truck, but in fact, the Ram was selected as the best pickup. So there.
Ford has managed to snag an important early victory over the equally-new Dodge Ram by being crowned the 2009 Truck of Texas over the weekend. Both the Dodge Ram and Ford F-150 are nearly all new for '09 and are competing against stiff competition from the relatively new Chevy Silverado and Toyota Tundra for a parking spot in Texan garages. Some 15% of full-size trucks sold in the United States end up in Texas and the sales crown usually goes to the Truck of Texas award winner. The Blue Oval also managed to snag the best truck-line award, the best SUV of Texas and the best CUV of Texas with its Expedition King Ranch and new Flex, respectively. Mopar fans will be happy to know that Dodge didn't leave the Lone Star state empty handed. We're not sure how given that the F-150 is also a full-size truck and took the top trophy overal, but the new '09 Ram managed to win the full-sized Truck of Texas award and its optional RamBox was named Outstanding Truck Feature.
It's been said far too often that timing is everything. Sometimes a product comes to market before the market is ready, such as when the Diamond Rio MP3 player debuted a decade ago. Other times, the market moves on before a product arrives. For Ford and Chrysler, the latter rings truer than ever in late 2008. Both companies opened the year with splashy introductions of all-new redesigned full-size pickup trucks at the Detroit Auto Show. Those events were quickly followed by an utter collapse of demand for the entire segment. As U.S. gas prices surged to $4 a gallon and beyond, sales of big trucks dropped by nearly half. When the last couple of generations of the F-150 launched, Ford spent months building extra trucks on overtime to ensure it had enough stockpiled inventory while it re-tooled factories for the new models. This time around, Ford had so many unsold units of the current F-150 sitting on dealer lots that the Dearborn brand was forced to delay Job 1 for three months while the old stock was cleared out with heavy incentives. That time has now arrived, so Ford invited the media out to its Michigan Proving Ground in Romeo, MI to try out the newest edition of the F-150 that, until last spring, had been the top selling vehicle in America ever since the age of the dinosaurs. Read on to find out if the F-150 is still the leader.
