Detroit may be but a shadow of its former self, but it remains a happy hunting-ground for rumour and counter-rumour, of spy-shot and counter-spy-shot. For automotive journalists it offers a paradise of its own. For, aside from the bleak winds, there is always something happening.
Against
this backdrop, Ford Motor Company is not a company to rest on its laurels; it
moves ever forward, relentlessly exploring new avenues, trying to open up new
markets and exploring new ideas.
Inevitably,
Dearborn is the one place in the world where not only do Ford ideas blossom but
rumours abound as to what it might or might not do next. Separating the wheat
from the chaff is always difficult.
But
according to AutoGuide.com at least, several ideas are bubbling away in the
Ford pot and all relate to the F-150. The first is a fact.
The
first 2016 F-150 capable of running on compressed natural gas or propane has
rolled off the assembly line.
Equipped with a 5-litre Ti-VCT V8 engine, the
2016 Ford F-150 is available with a factory-installed, gaseous-fuel prep
package that includes hardened valves, valve seats, pistons and piston rings so
that it can operate on natural gas, propane or gasoline through separate fuel
systems.
The addition to the line-up also makes Ford
the only automaker to offer a half-ton pickup capable of running on CNG or
propane.
According to Ford, the F-150 CNG is capable of
achieving over 750 miles on combined tanks of gasoline and CNG, depending on
tank size. It delivers an estimated 22 mile/gal on the highway and 18 mile/gal
combined.
The sting in the tail is thus: CNG/LPG engine
from the factory costs $315, but the customer then has to choose a Ford
Qualified Vehicle Modifier to supply fuel tanks, fuel lines and unique fuel
injectors. That cost can range from $6,000 to $9,500 depending on fuel tank
capacity.
“It’s exciting to see the first F-150s with the
CNG/propane-prepped 5-litre V8 headed to customers,” said Jon Coleman, Ford
fleet sustainability and technology manager. But then he would say that, being
the man he is.
“Whether running on gasoline, gaseous fuel or
both, the 5.0-liter V8 F-150 offers hardworking customers terrific towing and
payload and now, the ability to operate on alternative fuel,” he adds
reassuringly.
Fact or fiction?
So
that’s that’s that then. What’s next is rumour. Make what you will of it.
Spy photographs taken adjacent to Ford’s
Dearborn headquarters, show an F-150 truck features a Venturi exhaust tip, a
trait typical of diesel engines. Added to which, the photographer claims to
have heard the tell-tale diesel rumble.
Rumour has it the truck uses a new 3-litre V6
turbocharged diesel that is related to the 3.0-litre unit in the new Range
Rover diesel, a remnant of the two companies being tied together in the past.
In the Range Rover, the engine produces 254 bhp and 443 lbft torque.
Under the hood of the F-150, AutoGuide.com
reckons Ford will team the V6 diesel to the brand’s new 10-speed automatic
transmission.
“We do not speculate about future products.
While diesel is a solution, it is not the solution,” notes Mike Levine, Ford
trucks communication manager, predictably and a good man to go to in times like
this. His name often appears when journalists are touting for information. But
Levine, as a Ford stalwart, not only knows the rule book inside out but knows
how to stonewall in Ford fashion along with the best of them.
He told the journalist with characteristic
Ford-speak: “EcoBoost offers the ideal combination of performance and fuel
economy that over 60 per cent of F-150 customers are choosing.”
So nothing new there then. The engine under
the hood could be a VM Motori 3-litre V6, but most unlikely.
Of course, all things are possible. Across the
Pond in the UK where the V6 diesel is built in Ford’s Dagenham Engine Plant,
Essex, things are moving.
Back in January of this year, Ford announced a £475million investment in diesel engine
production at the plant. It is said the facility will produce 350,000
low-carbon diesel engines a year when the conveyers start rolling in November.
The investment was planned to create 300 new jobs and
produce 2-litre diesel engines. Opened in 1931, the Dagenham plant employs
around 3,000 people. In 2013, Dagenham made 790,000 engines and Ford says it
has plans to build one million engines a year at the plant in the east of
London.
The first of the new 2-litre four-cylinder engines began
to roll off the line last month and will be used in commercial vehicles (CV) in 2016. Just as important is the second phase which will add a further 150,000-a-year capacity of the engines which will be used in Ford passenger cars. Job 1 for the second phase looks like 2017 with the engine set to be available in passenger cars from 2018.
Dagenham engine family
Other
engines produced at Dagenham at this moment include: the 1.5- and 1.6-litre diesel engine family, the 2.2-litre diesel engine
for CV applications and the 2.7- and 3-litre V6 diesel “produced for customer
applications”.
Now, it is possible, that JaguarLandRover’s (JLR) demands for the 3-litre
V6 with its compacted graphite iron (CGI) cylinder block could deplete as power
and torque levels of its own Ingenium engines increase.
Ford being Ford will not want to waste the investment it has made in vee
diesels at Dagenham and so may want to find a new home for the 3-litre V6. Its
own F-150 could be one such home. This would put the truck in late 2016 on a
par with the Chrysler Ram 1500 with the VM Motori 3-litre CGI engine.
On the other hand, Ford’s Chihuahua Engine Plant in Mexico makes the
4.4-litre V8 CGI diesel as well as the 6.7-litre CGI Power Stroke diesel.
Meanwhile, the third rumour about Ford could
be more than a rumour. A hybrid model of the F-150 could be released in 2020 if
Mark Fields, Ford chief executive officer, is to be believed.
In a recent interview, Fields confirmed Ford
is working on a hybrid version of the popular F-150 pickup as the company looks
to make its line-up greener.
Ford recently announced that it will be
investing $4.5 billion into electrified vehicle solutions and has admitted that
its hybrid vehicle sales have not progressed in the US the past few years
as well as expected.
Fields acknowledged during the interview that
greener vehicles are “necessary” as global pollution becomes more of an
issue.
Last year, Ford global production development
head Raj Nair said the same thing in terms of having a rear-wheel-drive hybrid
truck by 2020, but also added that hybrid SUVs will be part of the mix.
A few years back, Ford had planned to
collaborate with Toyota on hybrid technologies, but the partnership was called
off in 2013.
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