There are beer cans, and then there are Humvees.\u00a0Ford Motor Co.\u00a0will take pains to show its new, aluminum F-150 pickup has more in common with combat vehicles.<\/p>\n
Ford will debut an aluminum F-Series — its anticipated and high-stakes redesign of the top-selling pickup in history — at next month\u2019s Detroit auto show, according to people familiar with Ford\u2019s plans. The automaker has asked Alcoa Inc., which makes aluminum blast shields for battlefield-bound vehicles, to lend some of its military-grade metal for the automaker\u2019s display, said one of those people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are secret.<\/p>\n
Ford\u2019s sales job will be considerable: The company is eager to demonstrate the toughness of aluminum, which is lighter than steel, to pickup buyers who\u2019ve made F-150 the bedrock of its business. Any snafus would weigh on earnings that Ford already is projecting will decline next year and add to the challenges facing Mark Fields, likely the company\u2019s next chief executive officer. At last year\u2019s Detroit show, he pledged that Ford would take as much as 750 pounds (340 kilograms) out of its next-generation trucks to meet tightening fuel-economy regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are beer cans, and then there are Humvees.\u00a0Ford Motor Co.\u00a0will take pains to show its new, aluminum F-150 pickup has more in common with combat vehicles. Ford will debut an aluminum F-Series — its anticipated and high-stakes redesign of the top-selling pickup in history — at next month\u2019s Detroit auto show, according to people …<\/p>\n