Ford’s ‘Super Duty’ trucks pack a punch
SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN: Ford Motor Co is beefing up its biggest F-Series trucks with more-powerful engines and hightech touches as it confronts new competition from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s resurgent Ram and General Motors Co’s Chevrolet Silverado.
At the Chicago Auto Show this week, Ford is rolling out freshened versions of its Super Duty pickups — F-250 up to F-450 — and introducing new gasoline and diesel engines that will allow these heavy-duty trucks to haul and tow more.
The automaker, which dominates the growing US commercial-vehicle market, also is adding advanced safety features, such as automatic emergency braking and technology that keeps the trucks in their lanes.
This market segment isn’t sexy, but the stakes couldn’t be higher in Ford’s showdown with Ram, which is now selling new heavy-duty versions, and Chevy’s Silverado, which has new heavy-duty models coming this summer.
To stave off those challengers, Ford’s new Super Duty arrives at year-end with updated interiors, an imposing new front end and an optional 10-speed transmission to improve fuel efficiency.
Staying ahead is critical for Ford, which revealed recently it earned $10 billion before interest and taxes in 2017 from its worldwide truck and van business, which generated $72 billion in revenue.
“Our North American truck and van business together — just our commercial business — it would be a Fortune 40 company,” Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford’s North American operations, told reporters at a briefing in Detroit last week. “It would be bigger than Procter & Gamble. That’s how important this segment is for us.”
Ford’s full-size F-Series has been the best-selling passenger vehicle in the US for almost four decades. But FCA’s Ram pickups have been coming on strong since new light-duty models hit the market last year.
The Ram truck line outsold GM’s Chevrolet Silverado — traditionally No. 2 in the segment — for the final three months of 2018.
Those rival brands now are aiming to take a chunk of Ford’s 44.5% market share in North American commercial vehicles, used as work trucks in agriculture and other industries. It’s a growth segment as total US vehicle sales have begun to decline.
Deliveries of commercial vehicles in the US grew 9% last year to 743,210 models, propelled by changes in tax policy that encouraged businesses to expand their fleets, said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for researcher Autotrader.
The added competition comes as sales are expected to moderate this year when the impact of those tax cuts fades.
“This is the next chapter of the truck wars,” Krebs said. “There’s some competitive pressure on Ford, and I know they’re nervous about the Ram. But Ford has been strong for a long time, and they have good relationships with commercial buyers.”
It’s easy to see why automakers are eager to go after customers in hard hats and Stetsons, such as oil riggers and ranchers.
Ford said the operating-profit margin for its worldwide truck and van business was 14% in 2017 — miles ahead of the 4.4% margin the company earned from all its auto operations last year.
“Trucks — especially the bigger, more expensive ones — contribute mightily to the bottom line,” Krebs said. “And car companies have got to squeeze as much profit out of sales of their current models so they can finance this future of selfdriving and electric cars.
“No one knows when it’s coming and when it will be profitable.”
The 2020 Super Duty arriving late this year will offer a brawny new 7.3-litre V-8 gasoline engine and an updated version of the truck’s 6.7-litre V-8 diesel engine.
Ford declined to provide horsepower or torque specifications that could give it bragging rights against its rivals. It also declined to say how much more weight the trucks could tow or haul, or provide details on the expected fuel economy of the updated heavy-duty lineup.
“It will be more powerful than the Super Duty we have today,” Todd Eckert, Ford’s truck-marketing manager, told reporters. “We feel like bringing out this new Super Duty will help us stay strong in the marketplace.”