GM May Eat Its Words After Picking a Fight With Ford's Aluminum F-150 - The Cheat Sheet
When Ford made the decision to build the F-150 out of aluminum, it was a big risk. Sure, being the first company to build a truck out of aluminum was risky, but even if customers rejected an aluminum F-150 for a few years, it was almost guaranteed that they’d eventually come around. In order to improve fuel economy, something has to be done to get that weight down, and until carbon fiber becomes more economical, aluminum is the best material to use. When Ford used it on the F-150, the weight savings were in the neighborhood of 700 pounds compared to what it would have weighed if steel had been used. Considering what a major reduction in weight Ford was able to achieve by using aluminum, it would make sense for both GM and Ram to make the switch to aluminum as well. Ram hasn’t made a lot of noise on the aluminum front, but rumor had it that the next-generation GM trucks were going to be either entirely or mostly aluminum. Because using a lot more of the lighter metal on future products makes so much sense, and GM was already most likely going to make the switch for its next-generation trucks, it was confusing to see Chevrolet release a series of ads attacking Ford... Source: www.cheatsheet.com
