Ford Motor Co. is celebrating the ramp up of shipments for its lineup of new model year pickup trucks with a trio of "truck takeover" events Thursday at its manufacturing plants as it looks to build on its status as the leading truck-maker.
"This is a really special time for us. I've been with the company almost 30 years, but I can't remember a time where we've done what we're doing right now, which is launching a new F-150 and an all-new Ranger simultaneously," John Emmert, Ford's general truck manager, told FOX Business in an interview.
"Not only are we launching a new F-150 and a new Ranger, along with that comes Raptor variants," Emmert noted. "We're super excited about everything that's going on with truck right now, and it adds to our position as the number one selling pickup manufacturer in the world and the best-selling line of pickups in the world."
"We're launching an updated version of our Powerboost hybrid, which is a big story for us because, frankly, customer demand in hybrids is through the roof, and we're doubling our hybrid mix for the '24 model year to about 20% on F-150," Emmert noted.
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"Our F-150 Powerboost hybrid is available with a 7.4kW Pro Power onboard generator… it can power a job site, it can power a tailgate, I've even used it to power appliances in my house when we had a power outage in my neighborhood," he added. "The stories coming in from around the country about how people are using Pro Power Onboard has been really impressive."
Emmert said that Ford set a record in the first quarter of 2024 for hybrid deliveries, saying they were up 42% with about 38,000 sold in the first quarter.
"To put that in perspective, when we look at the fourth quarter of last year it was about 37,000 and in total, U.S. hybrid sales last year were about 135,000 and that was up versus the prior year by about 25,000," Emmert said. "On F-150, our hybrid sales we expect to double this year."
"I think a lot of that has to do with the tremendous value that hybrids provide and the flexibility and some of the unique features. Customers are pretty savvy, they do the math, they can see how fast now a hybrid will payback," he added.
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The F-150 Lightning is the lone EV option in Ford's truck lineup for this model year, and the Detroit automaker released sales figures for the first quarter showing 7,743 were sold, an increase of 80% from a year ago. That comes despite a pause in deliveries earlier this year to allow for additional quality checks.
The Ford Maverick compact pickup truck will also offer gas and hybrid options, and Emmert noted that the Maverick hybrid has been particularly popular, in part because of the EPA's 42 miles per gallon fuel efficiency rating.
"We are selling Maverick as fast as we can get them in, we have a very low day supply and a very high churn rate. So far through the first three months of the year, we've actually led the midsize pickup segment," Emmert said.
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The new base model of the Ranger will have a 2.7L EcoBoost V6 which Emmert said "is a significant upgrade from where we've been," and noted that it will have new features found on larger trucks like Pro Trailer Backup Assist, which uses artificial intelligence to help the driver back up the truck to line up the hitch and trailer.
The rollout will also include a Ranger Raptor variant that will be available for the first time in the U.S., which will have an EcoBoost V6 with 405 horsepower and 435 pounds of torque. Emmert added that the Ranger is going through a launch and that "we expect a lot of growth in the Ranger business this year as well."
"By the end of April, we hope to have shipped over 100,000 new Ford trucks," including the new Ranger and F-150 models, Emmert said. "We're in the process of getting all of our inventory flow and, you know, populating our dealer inventories with our new trucks."
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Ford's truck takeover events will be held at the Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan, the Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Missouri, where the F-150 is made and the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, where the Ranger is built.
"We're celebrating with our dealers and customers, local media and employees," Emmert explained. "We're going to highlight America's love of trucks and our leadership credentials in a big celebration with a lot of our key constituents."
