[hotlap]

Big discounts now shoots down the earlier reports that sales were down because an inability to produce. Ford has gambled big with aluminum trucks and ecoboost engines

After taking tons of money and infrastructure to build, the 2015 Ford F-150 has had everybody’s attention all year. And F-Series sales have been looking... kinda weak. Now we’re seeing big discounts on the new truck. So what’s the deal?

There are the 2015 F-Series sales numbers so far compared to last year, straight from Ford’s beancounting division. As you can see, they’ve been down every month since January with particularly rough performances over the last two months.

Meanwhile the Chevrolet Silverado, “number two” since forever, is creeping up quick just a tiny percent behind on sales in June. GM’s combined full-size truck effort (Silverado plus the GMC Sierra) is blowing Ford out of the water...

.....The question is: why would Ford bother with incentive deals if they’re already short on trucks to sell?

I have a hypothesis here: that Ford is selling plenty of high-end King Ranch and Platinum trucks to early adopters who see the 2015 truck’s new technology as a good thing.

But plain ol’ truck buyers who don’t read blogs or spend two years salary on a pickup, and there are lots of ‘em out there, are starting to freak out about this “aluminum” nonsense that may or may not be harder to repair and these wild turbo motors that, well, they just ain’t V8s.

Meanwhile GM’s trucks are still made of steel. Remember steel? You welded it in shop class. (Is shop class still a thing, even?) Silverado also offers the best overall loadout for your money for trucks under forty grand.

http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/why-th...int-1718520125