2017 Ford Super-Duty News

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8 hours ago, Red Horse said:

Agree-".... I don't see near enough volume to come up with a dedicated cab for the 650/750.     But what I'm saying is the movement of 350-450-550 to Ohio gives them enough volume to cover the cost of a new competitive cab.  Ford was a powerhouse in class 7 and vocational 8 back in "the day".  People dump all day on the "pick up" cab currently being used.  Unless they are content to run a plant at reduced capacity, they have to get competitive.  If 350-750 end up with a new purpose built cab, Ford will be back to two cab structures-like they were with 150- Super Duty, except both cabs will have been design specifically for the intended use -as opposed to a compromise.  And I say this while at the same time saying that the new Chevy/Isuzu COE will rob class 4/5 sales.  All the more reason to come up with a truly functional cab-and while you are at it Ford, come up with a 4 or 6 cylinder diesel that is far less costly to build, buy and maintain then a 400+ HP Power Stroke.

Bob, I hear what you're saying. But I can't imagine Ford exerting the time, money and effort to give the F-350/450/550 the F-150 aluminium cab, and then anytime soon replace it with a purpose-built medium truck cab.

Ford certainly was a big player at one time in Class 7 and Class 8. But I don't sense that they want to be again. If they can throw a beefed up version of their diesel Super-Duty drivetrain in (mostly) Class 6s at minimal investment, and Avon Lake is building Super-Duty anyway, Ford can be in the US market medium truck game at minimal investment.

One thought is, given the steel Super Duty cab is long bought and paid for, it can't cost them much to produce it even at low volumes.

About Class 4/5, you are exactly right Bob. Businesses need a cost-effective work truck.

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Ford Starts Shipping Super Duty Pickups From Kentucky Factory

Bloomberg  /  August 9, 2016

Ford Motor Co. has begun shipping its new aluminum-bodied Super Duty pickup, one of its most profitable models, from a Kentucky factory, the automaker’s top North American executive said.

“This is one of the strongest products in our portfolio,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas, said in a presentation Tuesday at a JPMorgan Chase & Co. conference in New York. “This is the first all-new Super Duty in 18 years.”

The second-largest U.S. automaker said last month that its profit goals for the year are at risk because it no longer sees the U.S. vehicle market growing. The cost of introducing the new Super Duty pickups, such as the F-250, was already going to pressure margins in the year’s second half, Ford had said. But rising incentives and slowing sales are also taking a toll, as Ford’s North American pretax profit slid 4.8 percent in the second quarter to $2.7 billion.

The Super Duty, which began shipping this past weekend, will eventually provide some relief, once Ford gets through the costly launch phase when it’s spending to overhaul the factory in Louisville, Kentucky, and market the new truck. The automaker rolled out an aluminum-bodied version of its smaller F-150 pickup over the last two years, which can be seen as a guide to how Super Duty will eventually improve profit, Hinrichs said.

“There certainly are costs associated with the launch period,” he said. “Once we got past the F-150 launch, we set a record for every quarterly profit.”

Ford rose 1.2 percent to $12.32 at 1:17 p.m. in New York. The shares declined 14 percent this year through Monday.

Market Leader

The Super Duty accounts for 43 percent of the U.S. heavy-duty pickup market, making it the leader of that segment, Hinrichs said. The new version, with its lightweight aluminum body, will have the best fuel economy in its class. It also will have 17 new features, including driver-assistance technologies, he said.

“Super Duty is a very, very important product,” Bob Shanks, Ford’s chief financial officer, told analysts last month. “It’s high volume. It’s very high margin.”

The U.S. auto market slowed sooner than Ford anticipated. The automaker now sees U.S. industrywide sales of 17.4 million to 17.9 million vehicles, down from an earlier forecast of about 18 million. Excluding medium-duty and heavy trucks, the new projection translates to a light-vehicle market of 17.1 million to 17.6 million, compared with last year’s record 17.5 million.

Although Ford’s incentives have risen this year, Hinrichs said the company will remain “very disciplined” in its pricing. The restructuring during the last recession, in which Ford closed factories and cut jobs, has left the company prepared for the next downturn, he said.

“We feel good about where the North American business is,” Hinrichs said. “We still believe we can be profitable in a downturn.”

 

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Here's how Ford redesigned its Super Duty pickup truck to 'run to failure'

Business Insider (Australia)  /  September 6, 2016

Ford isn’t holding back.

In the past two years, the automaker has redesigned and launched its two most important vehicles, the F-150 full-size pickup and the iconic Mustang muscle car. The F-150 has been America’s best-selling vehicle for decades, and the 51-year-old Mustang is synonymous with Ford.

As if that weren’t enough, Ford unveiled the jaw-dropping GT supercar at the Detroit auto show in 2015. The $400,000-plus machine, in racing trim, brought Ford back to the 24 Le Mans in France to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford’s legendary win there — and brought home an epic second victory.

The carmaker’s onslaught of risk-taking has now been extended with the launch of an all-new Super Duty pickup for 2017, the first major revamping of this segment-leading vehicle in nearly two decades.

That’s quite a run. Both the new F-150, reengineered to use more lightweight aluminium, and the Mustang, now more sports car than muscle car, have been hits. The GT was so popular that Ford has extended production, initially capped at 500, for two more years.

But the Super Duty is another story altogether. This is the truck of trucks, holding a 43% chunk of the heavy-duty pickup market in the US. That’s astonishing, given how competitive the US truck market is. Almost half the people who need to tow a big trailer or haul massive loads, for business or pleasure, choose Super Duty. These customers are among the most demanding anywhere.

There’s a reason why Ford didn’t mess with it for 18 years. It was absolutely, positively not broken.

A critical vehicle for the Blue Oval

“Super Duty is a very, very important product,” said Ford CFO Bob Shanks on the company’s second-quarter earnings call in late July, before diving into a litany of reasons why.

“It’s high volume. It’s very high margin. It’s a big changeover because we have not had a complete redesign of this product for 19 or 20 years. It’s going into a big plant. It’s aluminium. It’s a new frame. It’s powertrain upgrades. It’s new features. It’s new technologies.”

In fact, the Super Duty redesign is so important to Ford that both Shanks and CEO Mark Fields prepped the investment community to expect weaker results in the second half of the year, at least on some fronts, as Ford goes through the immense, once a generation costs of launching the first new Super Duty since the late 1990s.

“It’s a big deal,” Brian Rathsburg, Ford’s marketing manager for the Super Duty, told Business Insider. “The truck is our halo vehicle in terms of capability. We’re absolutely operating from a position of strength, but with that comes a burden of responsibility to continue to be the leader.”

The Super Duty is actually a complete lineup of heavy-duty trucks, which start tipping the scales at over 8,500 pounds and tend to be found in oil fields, on ranches, and pressed into service by business that need serious cargo and towing capacity.

The lowest trim level is the F-250, moving up through F-350 and F-450 models. The prices start at just above $30,000 and top out at almost $80,000 for the Platinum F-450. Engines are huge, and they come in numerous gas and diesel versions. One V8-diesel option offers a Brobdingnagian 925 pound-feet of towing torque, which is probably enough to adjust the orbit of the moon, if you could get it hooked up.

Completely maxed out towing, at the limits of the Super Duty’s capacity, is 32,500 pounds — over 16 tons. It could haul more than six F-150s behind it.

Customers at the core

As with all pickups these days, the new Super Duty is being offered with a host of cab configurations and premium amenities. Many of the upgrades for Ford were driven by customers, with whom the automaker maintains an almost symbiotic relationship — you might think any big truck would satisfy truck people, but truck folks are in fact the most demanding of all vehicle buyers.

“Customers are a fundamental aspect,” Rathsburg said. “They live in the truck — it’s a mobile office. They wanted more room and more storage.”

Ford never loses touch with Super Duty owners, so the company was ready when the requests started to roll in for changes. For example, the need for additional storage was addressed by adding a lockable compartment under the front seats in the Crew Cab. In a bold move, Ford also kitted out the Super Duty with a suite of cameras designed to substantially improve towing and backing maneuvers.

But the biggest “if” for Ford-truck loyalists over the past two years has been the switch from steel to aluminium construction, intended to decrease weight and improve fuel economy so that the automaker’s bread-and-butter vehicles don’t get regulated out of existence as federal and state mileage and emissions standards intensify.

The change was trickier for F-150 buyers than it was for Super Duty folks.

“There was no convincing process,” said Rathsburg. “Heavy-duty customers get it. They were more receptive than 150 customers because many of them were familiar with the material. The trailer industry has already gone there.”

The pressure was on

Beyond customers, there was the attention that the Ford brass devoted to the Super Duty, which had been updated several times since 1999 but not completely rethought.

That pressure fell squarely on Craig Schmatz, the Super Duty’s chief engineer. He’s been working on tucks for 27 years, and this was a crowning achievement.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. And he added that the development of the new Super Duty stretched back several years, beginning when the new F-150 was first undertaken, due to the shared cabs for each truck.

“It was definitely special,” he said of the first planning meetings. “The whole team was very charged up. We really wanted to define what we could do with the vehicle.”

And Ford’s leadership wanted to see what they could do, too. And they wanted to see it frequently.

“We had all the standard meetings — and quite a few additional ones to, make sure we were getting it right. But they trusted what we were doing.”

But yet again, the toughest sell was to the customers.

“They’re very much into the details, and they know what the competition is up to,” Schmatz said. “And that’s good. We’re happy that they know their vehicles.”

They didn’t remain quiet when the saw something they didn’t like. Schmatz recalled that commercial buyers who didn’t want a conventional pickup bed but intended to have a box mounted behind the cab identified some design issues early in 2016 that they didn’t like, so Ford’s engineers made adjustments.

Bold guardians

The new Super Duty, it can fairly be argued, was Ford’s most collaborative new vehicle of the past two decades. It was so collaborative that Ford’s design team conducted preliminary research to assess what kind of people would be using the truck.

“We call them ‘bold guardians,'” said Gordon Platto, the Super Duty’s chief designer, of the customer archetype.

“They’re not into being intimidating, but they want to back up what they say. They want the Super Duty’s grille to fill the rearview of any car they’re behind.”

But those customers also understand that there’s tough, and there’s too tough.

“You don’t want anyone thinking the truck can deliver more than it’s capable of — you don’t want something that overpromises. If it looked like a big industrial earth mover, that would have been too much.”

The bottom line for Ford is that there’s no way to fool around with the Super Duty owner. They’re the most demanding buyers on the planet.

‘Run to failure’

“We have a saying called ‘RTF’ or ‘run to failure,” said Nate Berges, who owns and operates an awning company in New Jersey and maintains a small fleet of Ford Super Duty trucks of varying ages.

“We use our trucks to the max. I own the truck, and I’m not going to baby it. I’m not light on the pedal because I’m pulling every bit of horsepower from the engine. We do between 20 and 30 jobs a day, and we’ll pull up, shut the truck off, and then fire the truck back up, to go to the next job. We use the trucks, every day, 365 days a year. They need to rise to the occasion.”

Berges has Super Duty’s in action that date back to the early 2000s and has been a longtime Ford customer, buying the trucks since the 1980s. But loyalty hasn’t eased the demands he places on the automaker. If anything, he expects more out of Ford. He doesn’t just expect his pickups to be built Ford tough. He expects the Super Duty to pay off, long term.

“It’s an investment,” he said, adding that buying a Super Duty is almost like stretching his dollars. “I’m spending $50,000 on the trucks, and I want my money to go as far as it can.”

When Ford makes this group of its most hardcore buyers happy, it knows it done something special — not to mention something that helps the company in very tangible financial ways. Super Duty trucks are hugely profitable, with the F-Series overall making a major contribution to Ford’s ability to turn in string earnings in good times and ride out the bad stretches.

“Watching the trucks rolling off the assembly line is outstanding,” Schmatz said, speaking from the Ford factory in Kentucky. “Seeing them actually being built is the most rewarding thing.”

[Red Horse]

Had the SHO into dealer today for brake job.  84,000 miles, no vibration or anything just thought it was time-fronts were fine need rears only! 

In any case on new 2017 Super Duty in lot.  F-250 , XL, Gas, 4 x 4.  Very impressive looking truck.  10,000 GVW pkg!  Thought that was 350 territory.  Anyway everything about it looks beefy-including the price 40 g for an XL!

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Adaptive steering officially debuts on F-Series

Fleet Owner  /  September 22, 2016

Introduced in the 2016 model year, Ford is now offering its electrically-assisted adaptive steering system on its 2017 Super Duty pickups.

Ford Motor Co. officially took the wraps off its electrically-powered adaptive steering system for its 2017 model Super Duty pickup trucks – a technology the OEM introduced on the 2016 Ford Edge Sport SUV.

Ford said it’s been awarded eight patents, with 11 more filed, for its adaptive steering package; a system that electronically increases or decreases steering gear ratios by 30% to boost highway steering “comfort” as well as improve low-speed maneuverability.

Lodewijk Wijffels, Ford’s adaptive steering technical specialist, noted in a statement that this technology package – all contained within the steering wheel itself – combines together an electric motor, a small computer and a gear unit.

Based on driver input and vehicle speed, the adaptive system can add or subtract rotations at the steering wheel, with up to one full revolution saved at low speeds when steering lock-to-lock, he explained.

At low speeds, the system increases the angle of the front wheels as the steering wheel is turned – resulting in the driver needing to steer less to maneuver, Wijffels said.

“At high speeds, the ratio is changed in such a way that vehicle response is more relaxed, more precise, and smoother than without the system,” he added.

Adaptive steering contributes to delivering the best ride and steering of any Super Duty ever, with improved responsiveness and control.

Ford noted that its adaptive steering package is “class-exclusive” adaptive steering for 2017 model Super Duty and Edge SUV, with the Super Duty featuring a specific setting for when in tow/haul mode to further “optimize” how the truck and trailer react to steering inputs.

The OEM noted that adaptive steering is optional on the 2016 Ford Edge Titanium trim level.

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‘Parts Issue’ Slowed Launch of Ford’s F-Series Super Duty Truck

The Wall Street Journal  /  October 13, 2016

Louisville factory union official tells workers it will be ‘impossible’ to build all of the lost units in third quarter

Ford Motor Co. ’s shipments of its newest heavy pickups known as the F-Series Super Duty were hurt in late summer because of unspecified “parts issues,” a union official said, signaling a potential drag on the auto makers’ third-quarter earnings.

Rodney Janes, the United Auto Workers union chairman at Ford’s Louisville, Ky., truck factory, said while the issues are being ironed out, it would be “impossible to build all the lost units” from this past quarter. The shortfall could mean overtime work for assemblers as the company races to meet demand for the redesigned truck, among the industry’s most profitable products.

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Janes said the production efforts now are “fabulous” and are ahead of plan. “There’s always a possibility of parts issues,” he said. “When launching a new truck, you don’t come out of the gate going 1,000 miles per hour. If there is a problem, you stop right there.”

Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker declined to comment on the component problem, but said “we continue ramping up production on the all-new Super Duty. We are working closely with our suppliers to meet customer demand for the truck, which has been outstanding.”

Company executives earlier this year said Ford was counting on the rollout of the Super Duty truck to lift earnings in the back half of the year, but in July warned higher costs associated with the launch could hurt its prospects of meeting 2016 guidance.

In a note to union members, the UAW’s Mr. Janes said parts issues have led to shortened workweeks and canceled weekends of planned overtime at the plant. The UAW and the company haven’t disclosed what parts were involved in the production delays.

“The launch has created situations that are way out of the norm for [the Kentucky truck plant],” the official wrote in the union newsletter, noting that because of the downtime many employees will be working “excessive overtime” for up to a year from the launch date.

Ford made waves when it re-engineered its F-Series trucks with fuel-efficient aluminum body panels instead of steel. It introduced a redesigned version of the lighter-duty F-150 in late 2014 and then moved to its heavier Super Duty version last month.

The Super Duty is priced starting at $32,500 and rising to nearly $80,000. The truck has been a strong contributor to Ford’s earnings in recent years because tooling costs of the older model were written off long ago.

Auto makers book revenue on wholesale shipments, not sales on dealer lots. Major hiccups in production schedules can have an impact on quarterly profits.

Ford is expected to report results for its third quarter on Oct. 27.

Last year, as Ford was ramping up production of its new F-150, the company also struggled with parts problems that forced it to cancel planned overtime and halt the assembly line during regular shifts. That left dealers short on pickups and ultimately dented profit and market share during 2015.

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Ford issues safety recall for certain 2017 Ford Super Duty 6.7-liter diesel Chassis Cab vehicles to replace the adhesive-mounted protective shield

Ford Press Release  /  October 26, 2016

Ford is issuing a safety recall for approximately 180 2017 Ford Super Duty 6.7-liter diesel Chassis Cab vehicles to replace the adhesive-mounted protective shield currently installed on the fuel conditioning module with a bolt-on metallic protective shield. In affected vehicles, inadequate adhesion of the protective shield on the fuel conditioning module may allow it to be dislodged by road debris or water spray. If the protective shield is dislodged, road debris or water spray may force open the drain valve on the module. This can lead to air entering the fuel system or a substantial fuel leak. A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source may increase the risk of fire. In addition, under certain conditions, significant liquid fuel on the road surface may cause a slip hazard, increasing the risk of a crash. 

Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this issue.

Affected vehicles include certain 2017 Ford Super Duty 6.7-liter diesel Chassis Cab vehicles with midship fuel tanks built at Kentucky Truck Plant, March 21, 2016 to Aug. 28, 2016. There are approximately 182 vehicles affected, including 170 in the United States and 12 in Canada.

Dealers will replace the fuel conditioning module bottom cover with a metallic protective shield at no cost to the customer.

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Magna EYERIS System used in Ford Super-Duty Trailering System

Magna International Press Release  /  October 26, 2016

Magna International announced today its vision-based driver-assistance technologies are featured in the 2017 Ford Super Duty Trailer Reverse Guidance system.

Magna's EYERIS driver-assistance technology supports the Trailer Reverse Guidance system jointly developed by Magna and Ford. Image-processing software determines the angle between truck and trailer and provides the most appropriate view to the driver, depending on the trailer's trajectory. Three high-resolution cameras and a color-coded bird's-eye diagram of the truck help warn the driver of potential jackknife conditions. Additional technology shows the driver the required steering wheel movement for reversing in a straight line.

The Magna camera technology helps make the Super-Duty camera and display for Trailer Reverse Guidance exclusive in the pickup truck segment and best-in-class for any mass market vehicle. Magna has multiple patents on the trailer angle detection and guidance technology.

Magna's back-up driver assistance systems are already used in the F-Series. When designing the all-new Super-Duty, Ford Motor Company tapped Magna to build an even more sophisticated towing and trailering system to meet Super Duty customer needs. Because Ford Super-Duty drivers tow frequently, Magna worked with the Ford team to develop advanced tools and high-definition cameras to create a 360-degree view for the driver.

"Ford approached Magna to develop a solution for Super-Duty customers, for whom trailering and towing is a priority," said Swamy Kotagiri, Chief Technology Officer at Magna. "For two years, dozens of Magna engineers from the U.S., Germany and Canada worked together with Ford engineers to develop technology to enable Trailer Reverse Guidance, which makes trailering safer and more convenient. We are proud to support Ford with this innovation."

Trailer Reverse Guidance is the latest driver-assist technology supplied by Magna, which supplies camera systems to more than 60 percent of major OEMs around the world.

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2017 Ford Super Duty Tops Three-Quarter-Ton Work Truck Challenge, Bests All Domestic and Import Truck Brands

• PickupTrucks.com, a Cars.com company, tested the latest three-quarter-ton work trucks from Ford, Chevrolet, Nissan and Ram, and chose the 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty XL as the best work truck for 2017

• Winning six empirical tests including acceleration and braking, and maximum horsepower and fuel economy, the 6.2-liter V8-powered Super Duty took additional points for interior layout, quality build, and convenience items like bed tie-downs and lighting features

• Award is the latest in a series of accolades for the all-new 2017 F-Series Super Duty by the automotive press, and highlights Ford’s yearlong #40YearsTough celebration as America’s best-selling trucks for 40 consecutive years

DEARBORN, Mich., March 27, 2017 – In a year full of recognition and accolades, the all-new 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty has won PickupTrucks.com’s three-quarter-ton work truck challenge – beating out competitors from Chevrolet, Nissan and Ram.

Based on a series of empirical tests conducted at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona, the all-new F-250 Super Duty XL 4x2 outscored the competition handily. Powered by the 6.2-liter flex-fuel V8 engine mated to a heavy-duty six-speed SelectShift-G automatic transmission, Super Duty led the pack in 0-60 mph and quarter-mile acceleration, 60-0 braking, maximum horsepower and measured fuel economy.

PickupTrucks.com editors also noted “Super Duty’s striking interior layout and quality materials, its numerous large and small storage spaces, top-notch acceleration and braking feel, more bed tie-downs and lighting features than the others.”

The award is the latest in a series of accolades Ford’s all-new F-Series Super Duty has earned. Motor Trend named Super Duty its 2017 Truck of the Year, while the Texas Auto Writers Association placed it at the top of its class at the 13th annual Texas Truck Rodeo.

The recognition highlights Ford’s yearlong celebration of F-Series as best-selling trucks in America for 40 consecutive years, and 35 years as the best-selling vehicle in America. Join the #40YearsTough celebration at www.40YearsTough.com.

PickupTrucks.com’s three-quarter-ton work truck challenge can be found here.

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Ford recalls F-250 pickups that could roll while in park

Reuters  /  April 1, 2017

Ford Motor Co. is recalling about 52,600 F-250 [Super-Duty] pickup trucks sold in the United States and Canada because the vehicles could roll after the driver moves the automatic transmission lever into park position, the company said on Saturday.

The recall, the third announced by Ford this week, affects 2017 model year F-250 vehicles powered by 6.2-liter gasoline engines and built in its Louisville, Kentucky, truck plant, it said in a statement.

Ford said it was unaware of any injuries or accidents associated with the issue.