How General Motors Will Compete With Ford's Aluminum F-150 - Motley Fool
That's good news for Ford. The Blue Oval, mindful of tough new fuel-economy regulations that will go into effect in a few years, gambled that its truck buyers would accept a pickup that wasn't made of the traditional steel. General Motors ' current full-size pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, were all-new for the 2014 model year. Unlike the new Ford, the GM twins have steel body panels. It's a safe bet that the next generation of GM's big pickups will need to be considerably lighter than the current models. But GM has already begun running ads suggesting that Ford's aluminum truck is flimsy. So how will its next trucks compete with the aluminum F-150. One way or another, the new Silverado will probably have to be lighter. To be clear, we don't know much about GM's next-generation pickups. What we do know is that current U. S. fuel-economy regulations will require Detroit's pickups to get much better fuel economy starting in a few years. That means the new trucks will probably have to get lighter: All other things being equal, a lighter vehicle uses less gas. That was the reason behind Ford's move to aluminum. It was an expensive move, because it required big changes to Ford's two truck factories. Source: www.fool.com
