F150 Diesel / Steel SD

Ford Planning V6 Diesel For F150, Super Duty to Stay With Steel Body

Quote :

TTAC was the first to bring you news of the F-150′s move to aluminum construction, the 2.7L Ecoboost and the delays with the aluminum body panel production. And now we’ve got another bounty of information about upcoming engines, transmissions and other technology for the new F-Series trucks and their full-size SUVs.

TTAC’s sources tell us that even though the next-generation F-150 hasn’t even launched yet, there are already early-cycle and mid-cycle updates in the cards. According to them, Ford is feeling the sting of losing out to Ram on the first half-ton diesel pickup race. A diesel F-150 was in the works, but became a casualty of the recession in 2008. Now Ford is apparently at work on a 3.0L V6 diesel, codenamed “Lion”, that is set to appear by 2018. In other powertrain developments, we’ve learned that the 2.7L Ecoboost will have somewhere in the ballpark of 290-300 horsepower, though torque numbers remain unknown.

Around this time, we’ll also see a number of major developments for Ford’s truck line. A new 10-speed transmission will debut in both trucks and body-on-frame SUVs, as well as a new, aluminum bodied version of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. While production will take place in America, development is currently going on at Ford’s Mexican arm.

Despite the push for aluminum bodies, one product that won’t be making the transition is the next-generation of Super Duty trucks. Our source indicates that these trucks will stick with steel bodies, though the reasons behind it are unknown.

TTAC

I'm not sure about the validity of the above article. No other site seems to no anything about it... yet anyway. For the record, I've never used TTAC as a source before. Guess we'll wait and see.

Interesting. Ford seems pretty committed with the current ecobuzz push. On the other hand they'll need to squeak out more pickup mpg's and the there's a limit to how small a half ton's ecoboost displacement can go.

I echo that sentiment as well. I often wonder if the 3.5 is too small, already experiencing the diminishing return aspect. There's a point of diminishing return with low small in cubic inches the engine can be and still stay within it's efficiency range. Typically this has been the area of operation where maximum torque is available with the least demand for fuel.

I'm surprised they are carrying over the six speed for the 2.7 EB. I would think it's band of efficient RPM range would be a smaller window than a larger engine when propelling a like vehicle.

By 2018, they will be behind the curve. I bet we see the diesel sooner than later from Ford.

ggbaird wrote:

I'm not sure about the validity of the above article. No other site seems to no anything about it... yet anyway. For the record, I've never used TTAC as a source before. Guess we'll wait and see.

It looks like AutoBlog is vouching for TTAC's sources, so there may be some truth to this after all.

AutoBlog

I think Ford is banking on the 2.7 for those that want high freeway MPG. They seem to have all their eggs in one ecoboost basket. If the Ram diesel starts selling in good numbers you can bet Ford will scramble for a diesel in the half ton trucks. But I think they are gonna watch how that goes before they jump on the bandwagon.