Ford to unveil aluminium-bodied 2017 F-Series Super Duty lineup at State Fair of Texas
25 Sep 2015
Ford will unveil its aluminium-bodied 2017 F-Series Super Duty pickup planned later in the day at the State Fair of Texas.
The F-Series Super Duty lineup of pickups and chassis cabs would take the same path as F-150 in switching from a steel body to one made of aluminum. The frame would however, continue to be made of high-strength steel.
"It is the toughest, most capable Super Duty we've ever done," said Raj Nair, head of Ford's global product development.
When Ford converted the body and bed of the popular F-150 to aluminium, two assembly plants had to be shut for months, which hit sales in the final months of 2014 and well into this year as inventories of the new model slowly built up.
However, the Super Duty lineup conversion would not require downtime beyond next year's normal summer shutdown at the Kentucky Truck plant in Louisville, according to Ford spokesman Mike Levine.
Kentucky Truck's new body shop is almost complete, which would make it easier to ramp up the new truck when production started in the fall of 2016 as the outgoing model was phased out.
The new lineup comes as the first major update since the Super Duty's introduction in 1999, and according to Ford executives it was more revolutionary than the smaller F-150's switch to aluminum in 2015.
When the launch happens at the fair, an unveiling would happen at the same time for employees in Dearborn.
The first six months of the year saw Super Duty sales make up 43 per cent of the sales of the heavy-duty segment.
The current version included best-in-class horsepower, fuel economy and towing, and according to Doug Scott, Ford's truck marketing manager, the team needed to ''improve the productivity of the Super Duty.''
The truck weighs 350 pounds lighter than the current steel-body truck but the weight savings from the switch to a military-grade aluminum body was greater than 350 pounds, according to Ford.
The company took advantage of the weight savings to make the steel frame stronger and bulked up the axles, springs and suspension.
The new Super Duty features a redesigned front end that distinguishes it from its smaller F-150 counterpart. It includes custom grilles for four of its five trim levels - XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum.