DETROIT -- The new aluminum-bodied 2015 F-150 coming from Ford Motor Co. this fall will try to recapture fuel economy bragging rights from Chrysler's Ram 1500 by offering a "super fuel economy" or SFE package.
The 2015 Ford F-150 has two targets to hit: It has to get at least 26 mpg highway to claim most fuel efficient gasoline-powered pickup and 29 mpg to claim the overall. Ram owns both titles with the gasoline-powered Ram 1500 HFE and Ram 1500 EcoDiesel.
Ford has not released fuel economy information on its new truck.
The SFE, offered on the XL base model and the XLT, will be powered by the company's newest engine, a lightweight and compact 2.7-liter twin turbo V-6 equipped with stop-start. The F-150 dealer order guide released last week shows the vehicle available only with 17-inch wheels, some of the smallest available.
Other highlights of the F-150 dealer order guide: Fewer models, more options packages, 34 F-150s with higher prices and six with price cuts.
The least expensive model is the two-wheel-drive XL regular cab which starts at $26,615, including the $1,195 shipping charge. That's a $395 increase over the equivalent steel-bodied 2014 model.
The King Ranch gets the biggest price increase, up $3,615 over the 2014 model. But six trucks are getting lower prices, ranging from $110 for a four-wheel-drive XL Super Crew to $1,570 for that same truck with a different bed configuration. Some of the price cuts came about because Ford is using smaller engines. The truck's aluminum body and high-strength steel frame shave about 700 pounds off the F-150, so using a smaller engine won't affect towing, hauling or performance.
Six models won't be in the 2015 lineup: the Tremor, Raptor, STX, FX2, FX4 and Limited.
