NEXT STAGE: Redesign in 2020

Ford aims to keep its full-size pickup in the front of the pack with a redesigned model for 2021. Ford widened the F-150's stance by pulling the wheels out three-quarters of an inch, raising the front fender and increasing the tire diameter. The truck is 3 percent more aerodynamic than the outgoing model and will be available with 11 grille options and 13 wheel options, ranging from 17 to 22 inches. The 14th-generation pickup, Ford says, is expected to offer best-in-class towing, payload, torque and horsepower when it goes on sale in November. And then there's all the gadgets: hidden bottle openers, lie-flat seats and power generators among them.
Inside, Ford added a bigger center touch screen: a standard 8-inch screen replaces the 4.2-inch screen on the XL and XLT models, while a 12-inch screen is standard on higher trims. The screen comes in a horizontal configuration, in contrast to the widely lauded vertical screen in the Ram 1500, because Ford says customers preferred it and also wanted to keep buttons and knobs underneath.

The biggest change in the 2021 F-150 might be a new powertrain option: a 3.5-liter hybrid V-6. Ford calls it PowerBoost and hopes it can do for this truck what its EcoBoost engines have done for other vehicles in its lineup. The powertrain, mated to a 10-speed transmission, includes a 35-kilowatt-hour electric motor near the engine and a 1.5-kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery in the rear.

NEXT STAGE: Addition in 2022

Ford will offer a battery-electric version of its F-150 pickup by mid-2022, COO Jim Farley said in June.