DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. launched production of its first volume aluminum-body vehicle today --- the 2015 F-150 pickup -- and CEO Mark Fields said dealers should be fully stocked with F-150s sometime in the second quarter.
Ford took 10 weeks this fall to install new equipment -- including 500 robots -- in its Dearborn, Mich., truck plant. The new F-150 requires different assembly techniques from its predecessor, including riveting, adhesive bonding and laser welds.
The industry has been watching as Ford undertook its bold experiment with aluminum. Customers have been watching, too.
Fields said more than 250,000 customers built and priced versions of the F-150 online from Sept. 25 to Oct. 25. He said more than 225,000 customers have submitted contact information for updates on the vehicle. The first stock F-150s will arrive in showrooms in December, and retail orders will arrive in February.
Once the Dearborn plant is building trucks at full speed, Ford will transform its assembly plant in Claycomo, Mo., in January to the same aluminum assembly process.
Fields and his boss, Executive Chairman Bill Ford, presided over the launch of F-150 production at the Dearborn plant this morning before a cheering throng of employees.
“As my great-grandfather, Henry Ford, said, ‘The only history worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today,’” said Bill Ford. He recalled that the Dearborn plant was nearly closed during the 1990s, hailing the agreement the company made with the UAW to rescue the plant and rebuild it as a modern, sustainable facility.
Asked how he would respond to skeptics who doubted whether Ford could keep on schedule launching the new truck, Fields said: “We truly said this was going to transform the industry. The proof is in the pudding.
"They’re rolling off the first vehicle today.”
Fields said Ford is open to building more vehicles from aluminum. Fields has said the next-generation Super Duty pickup will have an aluminum body.
