When you’re the best selling truck in Canada for 49 years, you don’t just change the game. You reinvent it. With its ground-breaking use of aluminum, the all-new 2015 Ford F-150 has set a new precedent in the auto industry and brought new meaning to “built tough.”
The move to using high strength military-grade aluminum alloy in the body structure of the vehicle is a major innovation for a high volume product, and the 2015 F-150 is the only truck in the market that’s made this way. But the impact of this change doesn’t stop there. The use of aluminum means a weight savings of 700 lbs., which translates into increased capability of the truck, noticeable as soon as you start driving. It responds better, feels lighter and more nimble, and is quieter than previous models. Along with the body composition, the new F-150 gains another EcoBoost engine option, meaning the future of tough offers the 2.7L EcoBoost with best-in-class gas consumption. As one of 4 engine options, it provides drivers with the combination of torque, horsepower, and fuel-efficiency that best suits their needs.
Beyond these enhancements, the all-new 2015 F-150 is truly prepared for anything that work or the road brings, including the unfortunate incidents. “We’ve really been able to optimize the reparability of the truck and offer sectioning procedures and partial replacement procedures that we couldn’t do with the steel vehicle,” explains Larry Coan, Damageability Product Concern Engineer, Ford Motor Company. “We’ve gone in, looked at the design of the vehicle years ahead of time and tried to optimize the repairs; and the aluminum actually helps us do that.” Ford offers comprehensive dealer training and provides an F-150 Collision Repair Support plan to ensure that repairs are consistent across regions, making the 2015 F-150’s upstream design for reparability unlike any other in the market.
The transition to aluminum also provided the opportunity to add key onboard technology features that really make this truck a beauty inside the beast. With 11 class exclusive features that have never been in a truck before, convenience and safety have been enhanced, and F-150 fans can now enjoy a BLIS system, cross-traffic alert, and lane departure warning, just to name a few. Particularly cutting edge are the safety increasing options of forward collision warning, which gives an audible and visual warning that a collision is imminent and starts to pre-charge the brakes to enable a faster stop, and a futuristic Active Park Assist that makes even the toughest parallel parking situation a breeze! All these game-changing upgrades have already resulted in the 2015 F-150’s all-aluminum body winning the AJAC Award for Best New Innovation Technology, but the praise for F-150 didn’t stop there. On the opening day of the Canadian International AutoShow, the F-150 drove away with the AJAC Award for Canadian Truck of the Year!
Just in case you needed more proof that it’s truck love at first sight, check the all-new 2015 F-150 out for yourself and tell us which of its features is your favourite game changer!