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.
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.
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.
more ...
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.
Ford's reported decision to put its long-awaited light-duty diesel truck engine on ice for the time being could well be a result of slowing truck sales and the rising cost of diesel fuel. Indeed, the Blue Oval's pickup sales are down by about 27% compared to last year and are a far cry from what they were a few short years ago. That downward trend in sales is partly blamed on the recent rise in fuel prices, and diesel fuel has outpaced gasoline in its upward spiral. So, while diesel engines are inherently more fuel efficient than those running on gasoline, that pricing difference is usually only made up when a truck is used for heavy hauling and towing – one reason the expensive oil-burners prove so popular in the largest of trucks. Ford's not so sure any longer that drivers of its non Super-Duty trucks want or need a smaller diesel engine option. So, for now, Ford's 4.4-liter diesel V8 has been shelved. Though not in the full-size truck segment for nearly as long, Toyota's Tundra has seen sales declines much steeper than the pickups from Ford, and the Japanese automaker has also put its diesel V8 on hold. General Motors is still on track to launch its 4.5-liter oil-burner, as is Chrysler with a Cummins-built 5.0-liter turbodiesel V8. These relatively small diesels are expected to average about 25% better fuel economy than their gasoline brethren while offering a power improvement of 10-15%. Ford believes it can offer similar performance benefits with its EcoBoost series of engines, one of which is slated for the F-Series trucks in 2010, for a smaller surcharge. We'll see.
As is well known by now, Ford and Navistar have parted ways and the Blue Oval is developing diesel engines in-house to replace the PowerStroke lumps still being used. Slated to appear in Ford's trucks by 2011, the new oil burner code-named Scorpion is a 6.7-liter V8 with a host of innovations, some of them seemingly borrowed from cross-town rival GM. But the first thing you'll notice is that mammoth radiator. PickupTrucks.com estimates that the cooler up front is up to 20-percent larger than the one on the 2008 Super Duty, and that one had already been enlarged by 33-percent over its forebear. The extra cooling could be needed for "extreme towing applications", and if there's one truck that's an extreme tower, it's the F-Series Super Duty. The Scorpion diesel's innards will be enhanced with reversed intake and exhaust flow, something found on GM's Duramax diesel, and lighter aluminum cylinder heads. Nor will the Scorpion sacrifice mpg for its extra oomph: gains of 40 hp and 70 lb-ft will come with three more miles-per-gallon thanks in part to the truck's new 6-speed tranny that's debut as we speak on the new F-150.
