Last night Ford Motor Company revealed their all-new F-150, Ford’s most important product and best-selling truck in North America for the last 43 years.
Because we, like many of you, could only watch we’ll hit the highlights and wait for better information to make any calls, but first—the gauntlet has been thrown and cross-town faces slapped; Ford’s PowerBoost model is targeted to be the most powerful light duty pickup available with “at least 12,000-pound towing capacity, hybrid powertrain—the 3.5-liter PowerBoost™ full hybrid engine, an EPA estimated 700-mile range and the ability to power up to 7.2 kW of job site or camp site devices.”
Let’s take a look at the other new features and options the 2021 Ford F-150 brings to the pickup segment. Should General Motors be taking notes?
Is The New F-150 Better Than The Silverado?
Too early tell. But the 2021 F-150 brings a lot of new features to the segment that Silverado owners will be itching to have. It’s clear Chevrolet and GMC have to bring their “A” game for the 2022 Silverado and Sierra.
PowerBoost + EcoBoost = More Power (In More Than One Way)
PowerBoost couples the EcoBoost engine to a 35-kilowatt (47 hp.) e-motor integrated into the 10-speed automatic transmission. It’s equipped with regenerative recharging of the 1.5 kWh Li-Ion battery packaged under the truck. Pro Power Onboard, the available 120-volt system, comes in 2 kWh for gas-only trucks, 2.4—7kWh for PowerBoost models. Cost? No clue.
Ford F-150 Sports An All New Exterior Design
- Exteriors are new and more rugged in appearance, with 11 grilles that couple different models—people will know what truck you’re driving.
- All sheet metal, still aluminum, is new, as its fully-boxed steel frame.
- A work-centered tailgate with embedded clamping pads and ruler.
All-new F-150 with available Pro Power Onboard, standard clamp pockets so customers can hold materials down for precision work, standard cleats mounted to the sides of the tailgate to act as tie-down locations for extra-long items in the bed and available Tailgate Work Surface including integrated rulers, a mobile device holder, cupholder and pencil holder. - F-150 is built at Ford’s Dearborn, Mich. Truck Plant and Kansas City. Miss. Assembly Plant which gives rise to the claim that Ford assembled more full-sized trucks than Chevrolet and Ram combined.
As everyone but Ram has been criticized by auto journalists for lackluster interiors and now Ford has significantly upgraded materials and design.
- 12-inch center infotainment/work screen (standard on over 50-percent) and available audiophile B&O audio.
- Over-the-air upgrades to all systems that can be scheduled and occur swiftly, under two minutes Ford says. They include maps, microcontrollers, new functions and features, and support preventative maintenance.
- Controls are glove-centric with many rotary controls and infotainment controls operable with gloves on.
The new Interior Work Surface makes living and working in the cabin easier with a large, ßat deployable surface ideal for signing documents, using a laptop or just enjoying your lunch break. Available in both bench and captainÕs seat conÞgurations from XL to Limited. - Max Recline seat option that recline nearly 180° like first-class airline seats.
- Folding center console work surface for laptops or dining.
- Lockable under-floor storage that folds flat.
- All models get SYNC®4 with standard 4G LTE modem and improved voice commands and FordPass app, which can turn on/off exterior and bed lighting by quadrant. It connects wirelessly to Apple and Android devices.
- Running boards may be longer, extend with a kick or responding to key fob depending on model and options.
- ADAS or Advanced Driver Assist Systems
Ford obviously pulled systems from its Autonomous Vehicle program.
- Ford Co-Pilot360® includes pre-collision assist with AEB and pedestrian detection, a rear-view camera with hitch assist. We expected that.
- Active Drive Assist allows hands-free driving on 100,000 miles of divided highways in North America. Cameras watch head and eye gaze to allow hands-free operation on pre-mapped highways, and will alert drowsy drivers and eventually slow down the vehicle (we think it may drive to the roadside from the video).
- Active Park Assist self-parking parks parallel or perpendicularly.
- Intersection Assist can detect oncoming traffic when you’re turning left. If there’s a collision risk your truck will brake.
Sure, there’s more to come later and we’ll cover it. We can’t wait for the Head-To-Head testing, which always seems to tease out problems that press releases just don’t mention.
Either way, Ford’s new F-150 brings features and options that GM may not be able to ignore.
