Ford and Dodge have a not-so-secret head-to-head battle brewing, and the first punches were thrown at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The future of both companies depends on the success of their respective new half-tons, and both vehicles were officially revealed for the first time at the show during the first two press conferences.
Neither spared any expense on the introductions. Ford began the show with pyrotechnics, big stars including Toby Keith, and representatives from the plant responsible for building the F-150. Dodge followed up with a herd of cattle wrangled by cowboys in the winter cold, just outside of Cobo Hall.
The glitz is always an interesting part of the press days of the auto show, but when it comes to trucks, function is everything. Ford introduced the new F-Series as the most capable F-150 Ford's ever built and showed off many of the truck's cool new features, but when it came time to talk numbers, Ford stayed silent. We've heard and seen how good the new F-150 is, and would expect it to be at the top of its class for towing and payload capacities, but it would've been nice if Ford had officially announced the numbers. They did show every trim level the new gen's available in, and the improvement is dramatic—the topline models are downright beautiful.
Dodge and its herd followed, and the Ram was no disappointment. The Hemi has more power and better fuel economy than before, the RamBox adds a new element of innovation to the bed, and Dodge did announce capacities—9100-pound towing capacity (the same as in the 2008), 1850 pounds of payload. However, since the Ram now uses a coil-spring rear end (and the 2008 F-150's specs were better), it's likely the 2009 F-150 will beat it in these categories. Dodge also mentioned a new clean-diesel Cummins, to arrive after 2010, as well as a hybrid to follow. By the end of media days, it was hard to decide who won this battle—Dodge's press conference was more memorable, because of a few frisky cattle, but Ford's trucks are better looking and have a more varied lineup to make customers happy. The Ford is also probably more capable—but we don't know for sure—yet the Ram may have a nicer ride. It'll take an in-house test to figure it out.
Other than the half-ton battle, the biggest truck/SUV news from the show was the noticeable emphasis on going green—they have to do it to survive—but what was encouraging is that in some cases, that means diesel power. The Ram and BMW X5 are officially adding the engine option, while both concept versions of the GLK were shown with 2.2-liter diesel fours. Honda announced diesel is coming to cars, and it would make perfect sense to see it added to the company's truck and SUVs. The sleek Land Rover LRX is made from recycled, eco-friendly materials. Even the awesome Hummer Hx concept, which can be converted to a Wrangler-like open-air cabin, uses an E85-capable V-6. And although Kia's Borrego isn't as green (yet), it's a strong entry into a new market for them, making it just as newsworthy. And Ford, who had plenty of big news with the F-150, showed a concept called the Explorer America, which could be a look at the next-gen Explorer. This vehicle uses unibody construction as opposed to body-on-frame, and offers direct-injection, turbocharged I-4 and V-6 engines—no V-8. It weighs less than the current Explorer, with better fuel economy.
It looks like the automakers are doing what they can to adhere to new fuel-economy regulations. We'll have to wait and see how buyers react.