roadhunter
Elite Member
Wonder why?
2015 F150 Tow Test vs. Dodge and Chevy
- Thread starter CLinton_in_FL
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Wonder why?
fordmantpw
Veteran Member
Fuel economy. With the lighter weight of the truck, there is no need for the extra .2L in engine size. Performance should be the same or better with the smaller engine, while delivering slightly better MPG numbers.
roadhunter
Elite Member
I have a hard time believing that using aluminum for body panels adds very little cost when you look at the cost of raw materials. If there really was only minimal costs involved and there are huge gains in fuel economy and payload you would think other manufacturers would have figured out the same thing a long time ago. From what I can see it looks like aluminum bodies have been mostly used on high end imports like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes.
List
The following is only a partial list of manufacturers who use aluminum body panels:
Acura
NSX (All), RL (Hood, decklid, fenders and trunk)
Aston Martin
Vanquish (Body panels), DB9 (hood)
BMW
Z8 & 7 series (body panels), 3, 5, 6 Series (hood, doors, body panels), X5, X6 Series (Hood, BODY PANELS)
Buick
LeSabre (Hood), Park Avenue (Hood), Rendezvous (Liftgate)
Cadillac
CTS (hood), Deville (hood), Escalade (liftgate), Seville (hood)
Chevrolet
Suburban (liftgate), Tahoe (liftgate), Venture (hood)
Chrysler
Concorde, LHS, Pacifica (hoods)
Ferrari
360 Modena (body panels)
Ford
Expedition (hood & liftgate), Explorer (hood and fenders), F-150 (hood), Lincoln Navigator (hood & liftgate), Lincoln LS (hood, fender & trunk lid), Ranger (hood), Lincoln Town Car (hood), GT (body panels), Mustang GT (hood)
GM
Yukon, Yukon XL (liftgates)
Honda
S2000 (hood), Insight (body panels)
Infiniti
Q (hood & trunk lid) I (hood & trunk lid)
Jaguar
XJ, S-type (Hood)
Lancer
XJ, S-type (hood), Evolution VIII (roof)
Lexus
SC430 (hood)
Lotus
Elise Sport 190 (body panels)
Mercedes
CL500, SL500 and other models
Mercury
Mountaineer
Nissan
Altima, Maxima (hoods & trunk lids)
Oldsmobile
Aurora (hood & trunk lid), Silhouette (hood)
Opel
Speedster (body panels)
Panoz
Roadster (body panels)
Peugeot
407 (Hood)
Porsche
Cayenne (hood), 911 (hood)
Plymouth
Prowler (hood, doors & trunk lid)
Pontiac
Bonneville, Montana (hoods)
Range Rover / Land Rover
Hoods, doors, side panels
Saab
9-2X (Hood)
Subaru
9-2X (Hood), GT (hood), Legacy (hood, bumpers, sunroof)
Volvo
(Hoods & trunk lids)
fordmantpw
Veteran Member
Ford has also decreased cost in other areas (manufacturing efficiencies for one) to make up for the added cost of Al.
Also, another big thing, and a huge reason other manufacturers have not gone to Al, is the difficulty of assembling it, as well as points where Al and steel meet. It hasn't been done on such a large scale before. You can't just weld it like normal steel. It will be glued and riveted together. Technological advancements in the last several years have made this possible. GM supposedly has a new proprietary method of assembling Al that I'm sure they will use when there trucks go to Al in '18/'19.
I have heard that Ford needed to replace a huge amount of tooling for the F150 plants anyway, so now was the right time to switch to Al. Rather than ripping out perfectly good equipment to put in equipment to handle the Al, they are replacing a lot of aging equipment that needed to be replaced anyway. This significantly reduced their total costs as well.
Also, another big thing, and a huge reason other manufacturers have not gone to Al, is the difficulty of assembling it, as well as points where Al and steel meet. It hasn't been done on such a large scale before. You can't just weld it like normal steel. It will be glued and riveted together. Technological advancements in the last several years have made this possible. GM supposedly has a new proprietary method of assembling Al that I'm sure they will use when there trucks go to Al in '18/'19.
I have heard that Ford needed to replace a huge amount of tooling for the F150 plants anyway, so now was the right time to switch to Al. Rather than ripping out perfectly good equipment to put in equipment to handle the Al, they are replacing a lot of aging equipment that needed to be replaced anyway. This significantly reduced their total costs as well.
crazyal
Super Member
Ford is eating the cost. They know that they have to keep the price of the F series in-line with the other brands or risk loosing being the market leader in truck sales. With up to $10k in profit per truck they have some wiggle room.
Sysop
Elite Member
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Not sure where you get your information at, but I can say at least your data on the Lincoln LS is incorrect. The trunk lid is steel. All of the aluminum is up front (it was done to get 50/50 front/rear weight balance). Most of the front structure and suspension is also aluminum, besides just the hood and fenders your data mentioned.
Monster5601
Platinum Member
Also add these corrections to his list;
Chevy/GMC Yukon, Tahoe, and Suburban - tailgates were aluminum for MY03 through MY06 only.
Add RAM to the list, they use an aluminum hood beginning with MY13.
I didn't say it would spank it, only that it would out-pull it.I think it would just slightly. Similar to what the GM 5.3 did on the last pull after the temperatures dropped.
The truck is Aluminum body on a steel frame. I'm not sure what the Obama reference had to do with it...
Thanks for correcting the frame comment. I think thats the standard thing to say, Obama is to blame for....... fill in the blank. It's raining outside "Obama's fault", the suns in my eye's, Obama's fault. I think the days of big is better are going the way of the model-T, into history.
Be careful what you wish for.
People said the same thing about Audi when they used aluminum in cars in the mid 90s. Cars have to meet higher standards then trucks in crash tests. Its the future.