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<\/p>\n<\/div>San Diego<\/em> \u2014 Ford Motor Company and industry analysts say the Ford F-Series pickup is on track to sell more than 800,000 in 2016 for the first time since 2005. That staggering figure will mark a milestone 40th straight year that the F-Series has been the best-selling pickup in the U.S. market.<\/p>\n And it also affirms one of the biggest gambles any automaker has made in the U.S. marketplace: production of the first all-aluminum, full-size pickup.<\/p>\n Two years ago<\/a>, Ford bet its franchise vehicle on the wholesale changeover to an aluminum skin. Facing a doubling of government fuel-economy standards by 2025, Ford wagered the lighter material would both improve EPA fuel numbers while also advancing performance.<\/p>\n \u201cQuestion asked and answered,\u201d said Truck Group Marketing Manager Doug Scott here at the media launch of the F-Series latest model, the terrain-chewing F-150 Raptor sport truck. \u201cThe answer was our light-weighting strategy has given the truck owner more of everything they wanted: more payload, more towing, better acceleration, better fuel economy, better vehicle dynamics.\u201d<\/p>\n The F-Series success comes despite daunting manufacturing challenges and a fusillade of negative advertising from Ford competitors. Prior to Ford\u2019s investment, Chevrolet\u2019s steel Silverado pickup had been the class lightweight. With Ford\u2019s aluminum diet making headlines, Chevy fired back in a series of high-profile TV ads suggesting that aluminum compromised the pickup\u2019s core promise: strength.<\/p>\n Yet, despite months of Chevy ads showing bears stalking aluminum cages<\/a> and concrete blocks puncturing F-150 beds<\/a>, F-Series sales \u2014 which include the F-150 and F-250 trucks \u2014 are growing. With one month to go in 2016, F-Series sales are 733,287 to 213,000 more than nearest competitor Silverado, a 35 percent increase in the margin over 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt they\u2019ll make 800,000 by the end of the year,\u201d says Karl Brauer, a senior auto analyst with Kelley Blue Book. \u201cThe switch to aluminum hasn\u2019t hurt them at all. Any concerns have been offset by a laundry list of advanced equipment on the F-Series.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the F-Series\u2019 metal swap coincided with a wave of technical advancements including more fuel-efficient 2.7-liter and 3.5-liter turbocharged V-6 engines, 360-degree camera, mirror-mounted floodlights, LED box lighting, versatile box cleats and trailer back-up assist.<\/p>\n \u201cLight-weighting is an enabler like no other material,\u201d says John Thomas, global auto marketing manager for Ford\u2019s aluminum supplier, Arconic, the once-parent company of Alcoa. \u201cIt helps engineers seek better solutions for towing and hauling \u2014 and make powertrain selections that advance fuel economy and power.\u201d<\/p>\n Arconic\u2019s challenge was formidable \u2014 up its production of military-grade aluminum to feed the best-selling vehicle in the American market. And deliver it on time to pickup factories in Dearborn and Kentucky being retooled for the new material.<\/p>\n Truck marketing chief Scott says the switch to aluminum has not sacrificed F-series\u2019 bottom line. \u201cOverall F-Series transaction price is highest in the industry and Super Duty is transacting $10,000 a unit higher than the 2016,\u201d he says. \u201cThe F-150 transaction price is $1,500 to $3,000 higher than our competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott largely attributes the 2016 sales surge \u2014 up nearly 40,000 units over 2015 \u2014 to the introduction of the 2017 F-250 Super Duty which launched three months ago. It is, he says, \u201cexceeding expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford hopes the second generation 2017 Raptor will continue to buff the Blue Oval\u2019s shine. Shipping this week to dealers, the aluminum (with exclusive, plastic-composite front end) Raptor \u2014 the only full-size, off-road performance pickup in the market \u2014 loses 500 pounds over the previous generation while gaining 39 horsepower and an industry-first quick-shifting, 10-speed transmission<\/a> (co-developed, ironically, with truck nemesis General Motors).<\/p>\n The Raptor will sell for between $50,000 and $68,000, part of an F-Series sales band that ranges from the $26,000 base model to $90,000-plus for upper trim Super Dutys \u2014 a price breadth rivaled only by high-end supercars like the Porsche 911<\/a>.<\/p>\n