How
will Ford Motor Company respond to the mounting accolades being heaped upon
Chrysler’s Ram 1500 pick-up truck in the US?
One has to think the Dearborn,
Michigan based automaker will not take too long before it making an important announcement.
Most likely this will come in 2014.
Ford has made plain in the
past that it will vigorously defend its position as Number One pick-up truck
builder in North America – a position it has held for 37 straight years.
Certainly, on the morning
it was announced on 4 December that the Ram 1500 diesel pick-up truck had been
awarded Motor Trend’’s 2014 Truck of
the Year Award, it would have been the hot talking point in all the coffee
shops in Ford’s Dearborn headquarters as well as similar sites in Ford’s
Kentucky plant and the Claycomo car plant in Kansas City where the F150 pick-up
truck is built.
This is the first time that
the same truck has won the Award two years’ running. Usually only new (or
significantly modified) trucks are permitted in the competition. It might seem
the Ram 1500 with its Italian-built VM Motori V6 3-litre diesel power unit is
receiving too much attention for Ford’s comfort.
Said Motor Trend: “Two years ago Ford rocked the boat with its
twin-turbo V6 Eco-Boost engine. Last year, Ram rocked it again with air
suspension and its eight-speed automatic transmission.”
Motor
Trend had hoped “General Motors (GM) would continue the trend
and blow us away with something even bigger. We were not expecting Ram to do
just that.”
Significantly perhaps, in
October, GM sold its 50 per cent stake in VM Motori to Fiat Auto, thus
relinquishing any hold it might have on the engine which powers the Ram 1500.
Why did GM do this when surely it has a need in the North American pick-up
truck market for a diesel comparable with that in the Ram 1500?
General Motors’ reply?
This week, GM
named Mary Barra its chief executive, making her the first woman to head a
major auto firm. Barra’s
appointment was announced Tuesday, a day after the Barack Obama’s government
sold off its last stake in the automotive giant. Daughter of a GM worker, Barra joined
the company at 18 and is currently its global head of product development.
According to GM, 51-year-old Barra has risen through a series of
manufacturing, engineering, and senior staff positions in her 33 years with the
company.
She succeeds Dan Akerson, a corporate turnaround
expert appointed by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009 to help
shepherd the automaker through its bankruptcy. She will also join the company’s
board, the fifth female member of the 14-strong board. GM emerged from
bankruptcy in July 2009.
The
company has become solidly profitable despite continuing difficulties in
Europe. The US lost $10.5 billion on its GM bailout, according to officials, who
argued that was a smaller loss than it would have suffered had GM gone under. Akerson, 65, brought forward his succession plan
several months after his wife was recently diagnosed with an advanced stage of
cancer. He steps down in January.
One
has to assume that high on Barra’s ‘to do’ list is to find a solution to GM’s
diesel dilemma. The 4.5-litre V8 diesel the company carefully engineered is
gathering dust in a corner somewhere, while the tools lined up to machine and
assemble the diesel have been sold off. At first sight it would seem that the
cupboard is bare. There is, seemingly, no small diesel suitable for the
Chevrolet Silverado or the GMC Sierra in GM’s cupboard – unless it is lurking
in Europe.
Barra
has to find a diesel solution, and quickly. For, while Ford is in a strong
position to reply to the challenge thrown down by Chrysler with its Ram 1500,
GM appears inept. On the other hand, GM does not have a Number One position to
defend, so there may seem to be less pressure to respond quickly.
VM Motori’s strong
position
VM Motori is now wholly owned by Fiat. So, if the
company, based in Cento, Italy goes over its present capacity limit to meet the
growing needs of the Ram 1500, it is in a strong position to build a clone
manufacturing line in Cento.
Last month, following
receipt of regulatory approvals, Fiat Group Automobiles’ stated that its acquisition
of the 50 per cent stake in VM Motori SpA held by GM is now complete. The
purchase consideration was €34.1 million. Fiat Group acquired an initial 50%
stake in VM in 2010 and now has 100% control. The purchase has been implemented
following the exercise of a put option by General Motors, after several years
of fruitful cooperation.
Established in 1947, VM is
specialized in the production of advanced diesel engines. Its plant located in
Cento, in north-east Italy, covers an area of 85,000 square meters and employs
approximately 1,150 people.
VM produces around 90,000
engines per year for customers such as Jeep, Chrysler, Lancia and LTI (London
Taxi). A VM engine, the most powerful in its class, also powers the first ever
diesel model just launched by Maserati.
Seemingly this year the Ram
1500 was allowed back into the Motor
Trend’s prestigious competition line-up because the diesel option in the
vehicle was regarded as a significant new step.
This Award came as welcome
news for a number of companies, not the least of them being SinterCast which
has pioneered the process control technology that permits the production of the
compacted graphite iron (CGI) that forms the cylinder block and bedplate of the
VM Motori diesel engine powering the Ram 1500.
Ford’s reply will be?
So how, and when will Ford respond in its campaign to “meet
‘em and beat ‘em” as it seeks to defend the Number One position? already the rumour mill in the US is pointing to a new F150 with aluminium chassis rails developed by Alcoa. This set to debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January, 2014. The rumour mill suggests the ally chassis rails and other modifications will save 340kg (750lb) and there will be a new 2.7-litre EcoBoost engine (part of a new family called Nano) coupled to a 10-speed automatic transmission.
The top three best-selling
vehicles in the US this year to the end of October are products from Ford, GM
and Chrysler. The Ram 1500 has slipped almost unnoticed under the radar into
third spot from a lowly sixth position earlier this year.
Indeed, according to PWC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers),
these three companies will hold their premier positions from 2014 through to
2017, even allowing for the arrival of Nissan with its Titan pick-up truck
powered by the Cummins 5-litre V8 engine. The Cummins ISB5 was shelved in the eye of the 2007-2009 recession but is now expected to create 500 jobs at the Columbus, Indiana plant of Cummins.
Of the three, Ford is by
far the Goliath of the light duty truck industry, possibly selling around
700,000 pick-ups a year. As such it is in a strong position to dictate how the gasoline and diesel pick-up truck sectors respond.
So how will Ford respond? On the diesel front, will it drop its 3-litre V6 Dagenham-built diesel between the chassis rails of
the F150? Or opt for the more expensive 4.4-litre V8 diesel built at the
Chihuahua Engine Plant (CHEP) in Mexico? If the 3-litre is chosen then more capacity may be needed at Dagenham.
Up to now Ford has been
particularly proud of the twin-turbo EcoBoost engine which powered the company
to the Motor Trend award two years
ago. In January 2013 Ford announced 250,000 F-150s had been fitted with the V6
EcoBoost power unit. But now Ford has reached the position where it needs to
deliver a big punch – a diesel punch – in the marketplace to reinforce its
stature, and take the shine off the Ram 1500.
Unlike, GM which at present
lacks a competitive diesel option for its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra
trucks, Ford does have the luxury of two diesel engines – both equipped with
compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder blocks from Tupy SA in Brazil. Indeed,
all Ford vee diesels use SinterCast technology in foundries to produce CGI
material.
Adding a further boost to
SinterCast’s credibility as the technology of choice to produce CGI is the news
released this week that VM Motori’s 3-litre V6 engine has captured a coveted WardsAuto Ten Best Engines Award for
2014. Three of the top ten engines in the line-up were diesels, suggesting the
diesel engine is now being more widely accepted in North America.
The VM Motori diesel is unusual
too in the fact that it appears in such diverse applications and for SinterCast
to be associated with two awards in such close proximity is a further bonus and positive news for
the Stockholm-based company.
Nissan meanwhile, surely
one of the smallest of the players in the light duty truck arena, earlier this year recruited (some
might say ‘poached’) Fred M. Diaz as divisional vice president,
Nissan Sales & Marketing, Service & Parts. He has full responsibility
for the day-to-day operations of the Nissan Division in the U.S. This includes
all sales, marketing, fixed operations, parts and service and administration
functions.
Diaz had been chief executive officer
(CEO) of Chrysler's Ram Truck unit since 2009 and also CEO of Chrysler de
Mexico since 2011, responsible for all the Chrysler group brands there. Diaz
clearly knows a diesel when he sees one and he (and Nissan) recognise their
potential.
So it is not surprising perhaps that
Nissan has decided to take on board the new Cummins 5-litre V8 for its Titan
truck. The Cummins engine is another engine using SinterCast technology to
produce the CGI blocks for engine. Cummins, a late comer to the CGI scene, has
spent years assessing the material.
This leaves only GM as the outsider
in the CGI stakes, a further reason for Mary Barra to give both diesels and CGI
as the top priorities on her ‘to do’ list.
However, Nissan’s choice of a
5-litre V8 diesel and Chrysler’s choice of a 3-litre for the Ram 1500 does
raise an intriguing question: Who is right – 5-litre or 3-litre? And which way
will Ford move when it comes to slotting a diesel into the F150? Will January's Detroit Auto Show point the way - or will we have to wait longer?
Adopting the 3-litre V6 from Dagenham would
leave Ford’s vehicle engineers with the option of later moving to the 4.4-litre
in the next round of revamps. And as vehicle engineers generally allow 12
months for a chassis to accept a new engine, there is clearly not much time to
waste in the corridors of power in Dearborn.∎
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