First Drive: 2009 Ford F-150, "capability matters"
 

Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Ford, First Drive
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog....tdrive_opt.jpg

It's been said far too often that timing is everything. Sometimes a product comes to market before the market is ready, such as when the Diamond Rio MP3 player debuted a decade ago. Other times, the market moves on before a product arrives. For Ford and Chrysler, the latter rings truer than ever in late 2008. Both companies opened the year with splashy introductions of all-new redesigned full-size pickup trucks at the Detroit Auto Show. Those events were quickly followed by an utter collapse of demand for the entire segment. As U.S. gas prices surged to $4 a gallon and beyond, sales of big trucks dropped by nearly half.

When the last couple of generations of the F-150 launched, Ford spent months building extra trucks on overtime to ensure it had enough stockpiled inventory while it re-tooled factories for the new models. This time around, Ford had so many unsold units of the current F-150 sitting on dealer lots that the Dearborn brand was forced to delay Job 1 for three months while the old stock was cleared out with heavy incentives. That time has now arrived, so Ford invited the media out to its Michigan Proving Ground in Romeo, MI to try out the newest edition of the F-150 that, until last spring, had been the top selling vehicle in America ever since the age of the dinosaurs. Read on to find out if the F-150 is still the leader.

Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Ford F-150
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog...._thumbnail.jpghttp://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog...._thumbnail.jpghttp://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog...._thumbnail.jpghttp://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog...._thumbnail.jpghttp://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog...._thumbnail.jpg

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
__________________________________________________ ____
This post has been Twittered. Click here to follow Autoblog on TwitterContinue reading First Drive: 2009 Ford F-150, "capability matters"


Permalink | Email this | Commentshttp://feeds.autoblog.com/~a/weblogs...oblog?i=3tEm8h</img>
http://feeds.autoblog.com/~f/weblogs...toblog?i=XVhtm</img> http://feeds.autoblog.com/~f/weblogs...toblog?i=zNc7m</img>
http://feeds.autoblog.com/~r/weblogs...g/~4/423837381

More...