Don your tinfoil hats, here comes the 2015 Ford F-150, and it’s mostly made from aluminium. While the best-selling vehicle in North America has had some aluminium body pieces for years — notably, the hood — this is the first time the truck will have the material forming most of its skin.
Lighter than steel, but just as strong, aluminium is quite expensive, and difficult to form. It is, however, recyclable and the potential weight savings are huge. Ford isn’t announcing any figures for their next-generation F-150 just yet, but curb weights should be down significantly, and payload and fuel economy up.
However, the decision to make the single most popular vehicle in North America out of aluminium is going to have some longlasting repercussions. This is no limited production Audi R8 — nearly a million F-150s were sold in the U.S. and Canada last year.
As you can’t really take dents out of an aluminium door panel (think of trying to smooth out a sheet of tinfoil), insurance rates for the truck are going to go up. More problematic, not all body shops have the particular tools to work with the material, meaning that those that do are going to get a lot busier.
Moreover, the old picka- part is going to change too. Aluminium is worth far more than steel as a recyclable material, and as more manufacturers follow Ford’s lead, there’ll be less scavenging at junkyards as wrecked cars go straight to the crusher and the recycling line.
It’s not all doom and gloom however, just a change in the traditional model brought about by some long overdue progress. How Ford’s gamble will pay off in the years to come isn’t clear, but it’s worth watching.
