Ford's new F-150 gets resale boost from fuel economy - Automotive News
DETROIT (Bloomberg) -- The resale value of Ford Motor Co. ’s new 2015 F-150 pickup jumped 11. 5 percent over last year’s model as improved fuel efficiency outweighed concerns over repair costs for its aluminum body, according to TrueCar Inc. ALG estimated a 2015 F-150 will retain 58 percent of its value after three years, up from 52 percent on the 2014 model, Eric Lyman, ALG’s vice president of industry insights, said in an interview on Wednesday. ’s Tundra has the highest resale value among full-sized pickups, while Ford’s truck is the best among U. S. automakers, Lyman said. Ford’s use of aluminum, which costs more than steel, had raised concerns the F-150 would be expensive to repair and insure. ALG, which has set resale values on autos for more than 50 years, didn’t penalize Ford for using aluminum because the light-weight material has been successfully used for years on Jaguar luxury cars, Lyman said. The new F-150, the top-selling vehicle in America, achieved a 5 percent to 29 percent improvement in fuel economy, primarily by dropping about 700 pounds in weight through the use of aluminum body panels. Ford has a lot riding on the F-150. The $8,000 to $10,000 in gross profit each truck hauls in accounts for 90 percent of Ford’s global automotive earnings, Morgan Stanley has estimated. Ford raised prices on the new truck by 1. 5 percent, or $395, on the base model XL,. Source: www.autonews.com
