2015 Ford F-150 pickup first drive - AutoWeek
This truck is offered with the smallest engine in the F-Series pickups’ 67 years . Its hauling and towing capabilities increase substantially across the range, and fuel efficiency should, too. The 13th full F-Series redo has generated more than 100 Ford patents or patents pending -- more than any truck in the company’s 112-year history. It’s a landmark as surely as the 10th-gen F-150 in 1997. that truck marked the end of Ford’s 32-year-old Twin I-Beam front suspension and introduced things like overhead cams, an aero smooth shape and a third cab door. The new F-150 could prove to be the “segment changer” Ford promises, but in some ways it’s a conventional pickup. Out of the box, Ford has spent the most F-150 dollars on drastic weight savings as a foundation for further possibilities, including even smaller engines, alternative power and more gear ratios. Chief engineer Pete Reyes says 18 months into the 2015 F-150’s development, Ford management was still debating steel vs. aluminum. It’s a safe bet the F-150’s first-year production surpasses the volume of all aluminum-intensive cars and light trucks built to date, including military Humvees. The body and underlying structure are almost entirely 5000/6000 series alloy, heat-treated with proprietary technology Ford developed to increase bend resistance. Source: autoweek.com
