GM's Chevrolet takes shots at Ford's aluminum F-150 - USA TODAY
The rivalry between General Motors and Ford intensified on a key battlefront: the pickup truck wars. GM released a stinging Web commercial taking direct shots at Ford over the costs and speed of the Blue Oval automaker's pickup truck repairs. The Web hit — which may turn into a full-blown TV ad campaign — features NFL broadcast personality Howie Long interviewing an expert about the costs of fixing the aluminum-bodied Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck. In the ad, GM claims it costs an average of $1,755 more and took an additional 34 days to fix the F-150 than its direct GM competitor, the Chevrolet Silverado, following a simulated low-speed accident. "So if I'm a guy that uses my truck for work, every day I don't have that truck, that costs me money," Long says. The Web scuffle joins a storied tradition of marketing jabs between GM and Ford — sometimes all in good fun, sometimes not so much. A few years ago, GM took a few digs at Ford in a Super Bowl commercial, eliciting a cease-and-desist letter from Ford that GM promptly ignored. Ford bet heavily on aluminum when it released the redesigned F-series trucks last year, believing that consumers would embrace the lighter metal, which translates into better fuel economy. Source: www.usatoday.com
