Ford Bold Moves - Episode 11: King of the Hill
The Ford Bold Moves web-based documentary has already reached its 11th episode and finally addresses the bread and butter of FoMoCo: its F-Series trucks. After leading the full-size truck market in the U.S. for 29 years, Ford makes it apparent that it wants the F-Series to stay King of the Hill. Since the F-Series was just redesigned, the episode doesn't address in great detail how Ford plans to achieve that, except for a brief mention of the upcoming clean diesel engine. Nevertheless, its worth a watch if only to see Mark Fields' visit to Texas where he scouts out the new Toyota truck plant being built in San Antonio. The footage of the construction crew's Super Duty trucks on site is priceless and pure marketing gold.
Our own resident truck guru, Eric Bryant, was also tapped to pen an article entitled The Pickup: As American as Apple Pie for the episode.
[Source: Ford Bold Moves]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Aki 3:08PM (9/07/2006)
somebody needs to close an italic tag badly. The episode's slick for calling out the Ford trucks used in manufactering the plant (pwnt). But it really failed to address dragging truck sales, and how it will curb that. Toyota may not even be close to owning truck marketshare, but it does make gains.
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DPC car videos 3:40PM (9/07/2006)
Toyota and other foreign truck makers will lead in the future if Ford and other American truck makers don't do something different.
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MikeW 3:28PM (9/07/2006)
Hey Ford here are some free ideas:
Real headlights, H13s would have been an 'innovation' ten years ago
Real transmissions:You already use ZF's 6hp26, so 6hp19 for the ranger, 6hp32 for super duty.
Four wheel drive: No Ford truck has four wheel drive.
Doubly vented brake rotors, metal vent metal vent metal, thermally stable at temperatures in excess of 1000F
City lights(front) and amber rear turn signals(rear), side turnsignal repeaters: How can Ford say it has any commitment to safety when they skip on the most fundamental components of safety
Posive signalling LED brake lights for rear and CHMSL.
I will give Ford credit for recognizing that the high strength steels are rigid enough to allow the frame to be narrowed enough for the rear dampers to be mounted to the outside of the frame rails, so the axle can be better controlled, but still two leaf spring and an axle-just like the horse and buggy.
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Adam Singer 4:34PM (9/07/2006)
Re: MikeW
What do you mean no Ford Truck has 4-wheel drive? IIRC every single model of their trucks has 4-wheel drive available.
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KT 4:54PM (9/07/2006)
Mike you make very little sense on most of your comments. Look for the 6sp that is being used in the 07 Exped/Nav to show up in the F150.
What's wrong with the headlights? Why change to HID or something like that? People who buy PU's don't give a rat's ass about HID or LEDs.
AS far as them losing market share to the new Tundra, I doubt it will be very noticable at all. They will lose some but I believe it is Dodge who will lose the most and Nissan coming in a close second if not a tie. The casual truck buyers are the ones leaving the segment. The real truck buyers (like the guys in the webisode) would never consider buying an Import.
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mike 10:16PM (9/07/2006)
whoever was paid to come up with the "Bold Moves" campaign should be taken outside and shot.
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The other Bob 5:23PM (9/07/2006)
MikeW keeps posting idiotic remarks about trucks.
His last whopper was a stupid comment about trucks needing to have a 50/50 weight distribution.
Like I said a few days ago: Mike, get your nose out of Car and Driver or whatever sports car mag. you get your limited knowledge from.
Truck manufacturers often stay away from expensive headlights because they tend to get smashed on a work truck and need to be replaced cheaply.
SUV's and other cars are fine to have IRS, but trucks that tow are better off with a big fat axle. They are durable, affordable, can have their gearing changed, and they track well when towing or hauling weight.
Mike, get back in your fwd minivan and shut up.
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tom 5:26PM (9/07/2006)
Observation:
Ever notice that the people who rip on truck owners, gas guzzlers, etc are the first to ask to borrow yours?
I have a general rule not to loan mine to environmental whackos.
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Eric Lee 5:32PM (9/07/2006)
The Toyota Tundra and Nissan TightEnd are for homosexuals.
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Jamie 5:32PM (9/07/2006)
7. Observation:
Ever notice that the people who rip on truck owners, gas guzzlers, etc are the first to ask to borrow yours?
I have a general rule not to loan mine to environmental whackos.
Posted at 5:26PM on Sep 7th 2006 by tom 0 stars
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And many times they do it with a straight face too.
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Patricia 9:26PM (9/07/2006)
#9: thanks for the laugh. I don't know if your statement is true, but it made me laugh because I have noticed that many guys who look like (latent) homosexuals seem to go towards Gayota. Nissan seems to attract geeks.
Real men drive F-Fords, GM, Chrysler
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Steve 8:09PM (9/07/2006)
And F-150 and Silverado for transvestites??
Lets not talk trash here, okay??
Ford is an icon and everybody knows Toyota has no chance. A healthy dose of paranoia is okay but I think Ford should not worry too much.
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asp 11:43PM (9/07/2006)
"9. The Toyota Tundra and Nissan TightEnd are for homosexuals.
Posted at 5:30PM on Sep 7th 2006 by Eric Lee"
"11. #9: thanks for the laugh. I don't know if your statement is true, but it made me laugh because I have noticed that many guys who look like (latent) homosexuals seem to go towards Gayota. Nissan seems to attract geeks.
Real men drive F-Fords, GM, Chrysler
Posted at 7:43PM on Sep 7th 2006 by Patricia"
Really intelligent comments, bet you go home and fu*k your dogs, but hey, as long as they're bitches you're not queer.
Its reasons like this the rest of the world dispairs about the US.
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MikeW 2:24PM (9/08/2006)
No Ford pickup truck on the market has a center differential, THAT is four wheel drive.
Bob you said trucks should have a 50/50 weight distribution, not I.
Pickups that have a 60/40 front/rear weight distribution suck when only 40% is being asked to move the hole thing.
Just steal the damn VW Touareg transfer case: high neutral low range front planetary, double pinion center differential for a 50/50 torque split and get the unladen weight split to 55/45, pickup perfection.
So now you have FOUR WHEEL DRIVE, and the probability of wheel slip is slim to none. None of this torsen nonsense (can not accomodate tires with greater than ~2% difference in circumference)
Pickup trucks don't have to suck.
When will the ZF 6hp26 be in the F-150? 2008 model year? Ford will wait, but will their customers?
Just a nice set of H11 low beams, H9 high beams, and H8 fog lights. Definately no HID headlights for pickups.
LED taillights are for the other road users, positive signaling LED brake lights should be required on all vehicles, the extra 0.2 or so second response time can help prevent rear end collisions, and the damn traffic backups that result. A side benefit would be no hassle from cops, 'uh I reason I'm hassling, I mean stopping you is your brake lights is out' No more of that.
And you could get an asymmetric torque split transfer case for the dualie (ie 38/62) Good when you got 15,000 lbs on a gooseneck.
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Josh 11:44PM (9/11/2006)
I just hope ford gets the new 6.4 turbo diesel right. Sequential Turbos sound very inticing. Due to the poor track record of the 6.0's have left me driving my ol' reliable 7.3
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pcoll 11:27PM (9/16/2006)
Wow!! Alot of bs about how bad Ford is. I won't tell you alot of fancy technical jargon, or fast talk about how grand Toyota is. What I will say, on behalf of Ford is this: 1. I work as an inspector at a dump. 2. I see many many many Ford trucks entering daily with full loads on their backs comming into this hell hole, and see them every day, all week long, all year long. 3. Rarely do I see any one of these trucks break down. 4. Most of the trucks I see are already beat the hell and back, most are F350 with a stake body, dump bed, dually. 5. Mostly all of them are from the 87-91 Range, or the 80-87, we have a few that come in that are the 74-79 models. The trucks I see here are REAL work trucks, and have lasted this long as such. God only knows that some of these trucks were purchased used, so someone else already had the liberty of beating the hell out of them. I do see a few GM trucks entering from the 80's as well, and they too seem to take the heavy hauling task well. As for Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Honda, and Dodge, where they at??? Oh and just to speak a few words on Toyota, I own a 94 T100, you know the full size truck that was to be the F150 killer? This truck had a "silent recall" on the head gasket at 60k. The 3.0L Toyota engine it seems is just as worthless as Ford's 3.8L with mention to head gaskets, just Google it and ye shall find. Remember there are ONLY TWO american car compaines left: Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation. Chrysler sold out to Daimler-Benz... They called it a merger, but it aint. Support your local american brand for pete's sake, we have sold out too much of our country to outside competition that are based in other countries. Thanks for your time. P
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Karl 12:40AM (9/16/2006)
Mike, you are an idiot. The front axle of a 4x4 is not in the center due to the transfer case. look ander a truck and you will see. and trucks would not be trucks with a 50/50 weight distribution. Say you wanted to hual or tow something in a 50/50 weighted truck, ok now it would be 20/80 and u will not be able to turn worth SHlT. there is a reson why all the weight is in the front, its so when u hual something it'll balance out. And if you wanted to get even power to all 4 wheels then aftermarket diff lockers are available. And if you really want IRS then go with the new Ford Explorer Sport Trac.
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Charles Tague 1:33PM (9/21/2006)
As far as the comment about people who buy trucks not caring if they have led or amber rear turn lights..well I care. I am about to purchase another truck and I do want one with led lights (read less current draw and better life) also I do not know why Ford will make one truck ( Ranger) with amber rear turn light and not others. The amber lights are the best overall when it comes to visibility in all kinds of weather. Choice and change is what makes the American car buyer such a powerful force.
Thanks for reading my dissertation.
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