truth about domestics

For the 7th year in a row, a Ford truck has taken home the honor of being the Texas Truck of the Year!  The award going to the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, and why wouldn’t it?  It’s the most capable off-road truck ever built by a manufacturer.  For more on the award, head on over to Autoblog.

(Image source: Ford)

Ain’t she a beauty???  The Coyote engine is also slated to see duty in the 2011 Mustang, but at this point anything is game.  The predictions peg this engine at 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque, putting it above the current Triton 5.4L V8.  For more details, head on over to Pickuptrucks.com.

(Image source: Pickuptrucks.com)

So there aren’t many details on this story, but the guys over at Autoblog have found in a Ford press release another confirmation from the automaker that the F-150 will indeed get Ecoboost.  The best guess is that the 3.5L V6 Ecoboost unit similar to the unit found in the Taurus, MKS, MKT and Flex will be the engine of choice, but power output remains speculation.  The engine will supposedly offer a 20% increase in fuel efficiency over a naturally aspirated engine of similar output.  For (slightly) more information, head on over to Autoblog.

(Image source: Ford Motor Company)

According to the spies on Pickuptrucks.com, Ford is planning on offering a crew cab version of their off road wonder, the F-150 SVT Raptor.  For more information, including possibly engine configurations, click on the link in the previous sentence (so I’m too lazy to re-insert a link, get over it, I’m watching a movie!)

(Image source: Pickuptrucks.com)

Apparently there is some debate growing about how the Department of Transportation (DOT) counted the sales in the Cash For Clunkers program.  According to the DOT, each drivetrain was counted as a separate model, meaning a front-wheel drive Ford Escape was one vehicle, while an all-wheel drive Ford Escape was counted as another.  At first glance, it would not seem like this is a big deal.  Well, Edmunds pulled the data together based on model and not by drivetrain combination and the results are very interesting.

According to Edmunds list, three of the top 5 most purchased vehicles were from Ford, not the imports as the DOT is reporting.  Also, 2 of the top 10 were full size pickups (Ford F-150 at #4, Chevrolet Silverado at #8.)  As John McElroy points out in his column on Autoblog, it would appear that the DOT is trying to say that the program had a bigger environmental impact than is really the case.  The DOT’s list shows lots of smaller cars in the top 10, while the actual Edmunds list tells a different story.

It is also puzzling why the DOT would want to make the Domestic 3 look bad by putting together a list that seems to show the imports greatly outselling the American manufacturers.  Just doesn’t make sense, but I guess that’s what we’re going to have to get used to under the new administration.  Great job again Washington for twisting the media and more or less lying to the public…

(Image source: Ford Motor Company)

Thanks in large part to the success of the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, Ford has announced production increases for the F-150 and the Escape and Mariner.  The increases will put another 10,000 F-150′s and around 2,400 Escape/Mariners on dealer lots.  For the full details, head on over to Autoblog.

Here are some great videos to show you how the foreign trucks stand up to the trucks from the Domestic 3.

Enjoy the video above to show you how loose a Toyota Tundra is over rough surfaces.  Watch as the rear end starts to twist over the rough sections of road.

This video shows you how much stiffer the Ford F-150 frame is compared to the Toyota Tundra.  The key to a quality vehicle is a solid foundation!

Dodge’s engineers sat down and said, how can we make the 2010 Dodge Ram better, without actually having to change anything.  Their conclusion?  The 2010 truck can handle 1,500 more pounds of towing load than the 2009 without any mechanical changes to the truck whatsoever.  Does that mean the 2009 trucks are capable of towing 10,450 pounds, or are they only good for the originally stated 9,100 pounds?  Who cares!  This now puts the Ram into the thick of the half-ton towing race, behind the Ford F-150 (11,000 pounds) and the Toyota Tundra (10,800 pounds) and slightly ahead of the Chevrolet Silverado (10,300 pounds.)

For more details, head on over to Pickuptrucks.com!

I’m so tired of people stating that the American 3 don’t make quality products.  Then to make matters worse, people continue to spout garbage about how great Toyota and Nissans’ products are.  If their products are so great, then how do you explain the fact that they both lost market share to the pickups offered by Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge?  That’s right folks, Toyota and Nissan both lost market share year over year on their pickups while Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge all picked up market share.

Toyota had one of the hardest drops, watching sales of it’s new Tundra (from a billion dollar plant recently built in Texas specifically for this truck) fall from 76,516 to 36,106!  For all of the numbers, head on over to Pickuptrucks.com.

That’s right folks, Ford has passed GM to become the number one automaker in Canada for the month of June.  Sales were actually up almost 25% compared to June 2008, thanks in no small part to  59% increase in F-150 sales!  For the full story, head on over to the London Free Press.