Among all the vehicles offered by Ford Motor, the F-Series pickup truck has a special place in the auto market. In August 2016, nearly 67 thousand units of F-Series pickups were sold, with a YoY (year-over-year) decline of 6.1%.
The F-150 is the heavy-duty, full-size pickup truck in the series. The F-150 line of trucks has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States for more than three decades now. This shows the company’s strength in maintaining its leadership in the US auto market (FXD). The significance of these pickup trucks is also immense for Ford, as pickup trucks typically yield higher profitability than small cars. Yet, Ford is not the only player in the pickup truck segment. Automakers General Motors (GM), Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU), and Toyota Motor (TM) pose competition to the F-150 series with their Chevrolet Silverado, Ram, and Toyota Tundra, respectively.
Despite the YoY decline in August 2016 sales, Ford’s F-Series truck still remains at the top among competitors. Recently, Ford has made a significant change in its F-150 pickup truck line. The company is now producing a new aluminum body version of the F-150. This new version provides an improved power-to-weight ratio over previous generations, and the aluminum body results in better fuel efficiency and faster acceleration. With this change, production costs for the truck should also be lower.