Ford's F-150 still faces problem after overhaul

Chicago

FORD Motor Co executives spared no expense in overhauling the crown jewel of their empire, the F-150. They gave the truck a new aluminium body, smaller turbocharged engines and a lighter and stronger steel frame. The initiative took six years, cost more than US$1 billion and achieved Ford's primary goal: keeping the truck line, and its overall fleet, in compliance with emission and fuel-economy standards.

There's one problem. Some of the new F-150 models still don't meet their targets. And while there's no regulatory penalty for those individual vehicles that fall short - a carmaker is judged only on the totality of its fleet's performance - the misses highlight just how onerous these new mandates are. What's more, they're about to get a lot tougher. The standards climb every year over the next decade and by 2025, those applied to some of the F-150 models will have jumped more than 30 per cent.