Counting On A Pickup
Struggling Ford bets the ranch on a glitzy new F-150, the world's bestselling vehicle
To gauge the reception the critical new truck is likely to get, U.S. News asked some of the workers at Luck Stone--where most employees drive either a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge pickup--to help evaluate a new F-150 borrowed from Ford. Luck workers drove the truck--a $35,000 FX4 sport model, loaded up with four-wheel drive, a 300-horsepower V-8, 18-inch off-road tires, and leather interior--over rock piles and into mud pits, twisted the frame on rutted trails, poked around under the hood, and tested its power with a bed full of cargo.
At first glance, the truck was a crowd pleaser. The '04's boxier design was a hit, as were some of the features. "I love that center console," says Benny Woodward, a plant technician, as he puffed on a Marlboro and examined an interior that Ford boasts will be the most stylish of any large pickup. All new F-150s will come with a two-tone instrument panel. Bucket seats, chrome-trimmed air vents, and other niceties will be standard on higher trim lines. "Consumers want all the capability [of a pickup], along with this level of refinement," says Doug Scott, marketing manager for Ford's truck group. One reason: Many pickup buyers these days are switching over from more comfortable SUVs.
Cornering the well-heeled buyer--whether shod in work boots or loafers--is a key part of Ford's revitalization plan. With some analysts predicting that Ford's overall U.S. market share will shrink into the teens from the current 21 percent, higher-margin luxury cars--such as Ford's Lincoln, Volvo, and Jaguar nameplates--are becoming ever more important. "We don't plan to lose market share," insists Ford President Nick Scheele. "But you'll probably see a shift in market share to premium brands."
That includes trucks too. The surprising success of "special edition" models like the leather-lined King Ranch version of the F-150 has led Ford to predict that just 10 percent to 15 percent of '04 F-150 buyers will choose the entry-level XL model, starting at about $22,000, while the upscale F-150 Lariat, topping out at more than $40,000, will capture 20 percent to 25 percent of the truck's sales.
But expecting pickup aficionados to pay extra for luxe features could be a risky bet. "I want a pickup truck, not a Cadillac," gibed Larry Stokes, a Luck Stone mechanic who owns a '99 Ford Ranger pickup. "I wouldn't want to take this truck into the woods." Too plush an image, in fact, could become a strategic mistake. "It makes no sense for what's essentially a work vehicle," says Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills, N.J. "The mistaken belief is that whatever they put on the street people will buy."
At the quarry, in fact, workers fingered a number of shortcomings that might lead them to a Dodge or Chevy. One frequent complaint was that the F-150 lacked the ground clearance to master a rugged work site. And when Will Cockerill, a warehouse worker, was strapping a 1,246-pound motor into the cargo bed, he noticed that the tie-down straps weren't reinforced: "If something really moved, it could snatch them right out of the wall." Even little things count. The removable cup-holder insert, for smaller cups, bothered Paul Jenkins. "That's something I've got to take out and put somewhere."
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