Ford looks to aluminum to slash weight of pickups

Duane A. Laverty / AP file

Ford CEO Alan Mulally shows off the 2013 Ford F-150 pickup truck. Ford is likely to use more aluminum and less steel in future models in a bid to trim hundreds of pounds and increase fuel efficiency.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau
Pickup truck buyers are a stubborn lot, or so goes the conventional wisdom. What matters is payload and towing capacity; all else be damned.

But recent trends suggest that’s not necessarily the case. The latest generation of full-size trucks now offer the sort of high-tech, high-touch features you might expect in a luxury car. And, perhaps most shockingly, Ford Motor Co. is now selling more than half of its F-Series pickups equipped with V-6s, rather than the classic, heavy-hauling V-8.

But the Detroit automaker could take things are big step further when it launches the next generation of what has been, for more than a quarter-century, America’s best-selling automotive line. The upcoming remake of the F-Series will reportedly make a major shift away from steel to aluminum in a bid to shave as much as 700 pounds off the big truck’s hefty girth.

Fuel economy has become an increasingly significant factor in the buying process for truck buyers, and Ford’s decision to offer two different six-cylinder packages for the F-Series has helped it shore up its lead in the full-size pickup segment even as it faces tough competition from both domestic and Japanese alternatives.

But the F-Series will arguably be even more hard-pressed to meet tough new mileage standards set to go into effect in 2016, with an even more stringent set of rules being finalized for 2025. Getting there will require a mix of solutions, industry analysts contend, not just a downsized engine lineup.

Weight has been a traditional challenge for the auto industry, all the more so as manufacturers have been forced to add mass and content to their vehicles — both to meet tightened safety standards and to deliver consumers the added features they expect, year after year.

But Ford is determined to not only meet those demands and still put its products on a serious diet. In a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com before his recent retirement, Ford’s global product czar Derrick Kuzak said, “In the midterm, from now to 2017 or 2018, we’ll remove anywhere from 250 to 700 pounds depending on the vehicle.”

The latter figure is the apparent target for the F-Series, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. However, Ford spokesman Mike Levine insisted it is “premature” to discuss specific targets for the next F-Series, which isn’t scheduled to come to market until the summer of 2014 as a 2015 model.

But insiders say that there is little doubt Ford is looking to slash the mass of the truck.

Aluminum is becoming one of the materials of choice for industry designers and engineers. It is significantly lighter than steel and generally stronger, pound-per-pound than even the most advanced steel alloys.

It is already gaining ground on assembly lines around the world, in use on any number of vehicles, whether as trunk lids on some of Ford’s Lincoln models to the entire platform and body of the latest Jaguar luxury cars, including the flagship XJ sedan.

According to a report by consulting firm Ducker Worldwide, the average 2012 vehicle was expected to contain 343 pounds of aluminum, up from 327 pounds as recently as 2009. And the lightweight metal was expected to double its share of the average light vehicle model mix, to 16 percent, between 2008 and 2025.

Over the same period, Ducker forecast, the average light vehicle is expected to trim its weight by 408 pounds despite new regulatory requirements and consumer demands.

But despite its weight advantages aluminum is no panacea, experts warn. The material is substantially more expensive than traditional steels and even fares negatively when compared with the most exotic ultra-high-strength steels, such as those used to help shave weight in the new Cadillac ATS compact luxury sedan.

Aluminum is also significantly more energy-intensive, both in the smelting of the raw metal and in the automotive assembly process — though energy demands drop sharply when manufacturers work with recycled metal.

And aluminum is getting plenty of competition. BMW, for one, is investing heavily in the development of an even lighter and stronger exotic, carbon fiber. Until now, that has been a material limited for use in Formula One race cars and exotic street vehicles like the Lamborghini Aventador, but the German automaker plans to make extensive use of carbon fiber on its new i3 and i8 battery cars and believes it can eventually bring costs down enough to find uses on more mainstream offerings like the popular 3-Series.

Then there’s steel. The familiar metal has proved unexpectedly resilient, new alloys yielding markedly greater strength even as they get lighter.

“With new fuel economy and emissions regulations, it is necessary and appropriate that automakers evaluate different automotive designs,” said Thomas J. Gibson, president of the trade group the American Iron and Steel Institute. “And our history has shown the trial of alternative materials typically result in parts being re-evaluated and returned to steel due to cost, performance or both.”

But most experts believe that while steel won’t go away, it simply won’t be able to make the massive reductions in mass needed to meet tomorrow’s tough mileage rules — or consumer demand — at least not entirely.

So, if Ford does, indeed, come in with a light, aluminum-intensive version of the next F-Series pickup, it could blaze the path for the rest of the industry in moving the lightweight metal into the mainstream.

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Tiny Fiat 500 looks to charm city-dwellers

As the globe shrinks, carmakers such as Fiat that once were happy to dominate their home markets without competing abroad are being forced to face wider competition.

Manufacturers like Fiat, Renault and Peugeot -- which left the U.S. market decades ago after customers fled these unreliable brands for Japanese and German carmakers -- are finding those same competitors in their home markets. That is forcing them to improve their cars to the standards set by Honda, Toyota and increasingly, Hyundai.

Driving these Italian and French cars in Europe in recent years has been a revelation: They seem to be put together every bit as well as cars made anywhere else, and they often boast chic Euro-styling that sets them apart from bland Asian products.

The Fiat 500 is a case in point. The original 500, or “Cinquecento” in Italian, was the fondly remembered Italian equivalent of the Volkswagen Beetle or Austin Mini, so Fiat decided to follow VW and Mini’s lead by introducing a new version that evokes the beloved classic.

Unlike VW, which stretched the New Beetle to preposterous proportions, Fiat stuck closer to the original car’s size, producing a model that is even smaller than the Mini.

The Mexican-built U.S. version of the 500 feels as solidly assembled as the European models that have been sold on the Continent for several years, with none of the embarrassing manufacturing flaws that drove American customers away from cars like the Fiat Bravo and Strada, despite their appealing handling characteristics.

The version of the 500 I tested -- a convertible -- not only seemed solid, it also successfully repelled the drenching remnants of a tropical storm that flooded the East Coast recently. The 500’s electronics didn’t flicker during this virtual submersion test, and the car plowed happily along through the torrent without a hiccup.

With the reliability problems in its cars fixed, Fiat realized that the key to regaining customers was to focus on the company’s longstanding fun-to-drive aspect.

When the 500 debuted at the Frankfurt motor show four years ago, Fiat played up the car’s toy-like aspect with a display featuring the cars traveling on a track like an amusement park ride, with a giant-sized version of the 500’s body shell serving as the fun house through which the cars traveled.

The stunt underscores the 500’s appeal as a virtual thrill ride, but while the exterior style supports that notion, the chassis isn’t cashing the checks the sunny exterior is writing. Steering and handling fail to live up to the lively, playful promise of the 500’s diminutive dimensions.

Instead of the grasping-the-front-axles directness one expects from such a go-cartlike conveyance, the 500 driver is frustrated by lifeless power steering that feels directly lifted from an Oldsmobile Cutlass circa 1971.

For urbanites who suffer cars as a necessary evil and revel in the Fiat fashion statement, this dull steering will make no difference, as the car goes where it is pointed and the flyaway steering makes one-finger parking a breeze.

But those who are attracted by the expectation of fuel-sipping fun will be disappointed. Attempting to distract from that disappointment by enjoying the Bose sound system will only compound the problem as the radio is abominably hard to use due to the lack of rotary knobs for volume or tuning.

Inside the 500 there is room for four, with just enough space behind the back seat for a row of grocery bags. It feels very much like the original Honda Civic in scale, but with a more claustrophobic cabin due to the thick bracing and small windows demanded by modern safety tests.

We don’t yet know to what degree that modern reinforcement, with the aid of seven airbags, has bolstered crash test scores because results for the U.S. model aren’t yet available. But in Europe the 500 was the first subcompact to earn a five-star rating, which bodes well for results from U.S. testing agencies.

A six-footer can genuinely fit in the rear seat behind a front-seater of the same size, though it means splayed knees, head restraint pressing against the neck and head grazing the ceiling, so the ride should be a short one.

Fiat returns to the U.S. boasting of its Multiair engine technology, which it promises will boost efficiency in its engines.

The 500’s 29 mpg in combined city and highway driving is acceptable but not exemplary for a car with only 101 horsepower and six speeds in the transmission (for perspective, that means the Buick Regal eAssist has better steering feel and better fuel economy).

The 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine has a modestly thrashy character that is reminiscent of a sewing machine in the manner of Japanese engines of the 1970s. It’s in no way obtrusive, but you are aware that it is toiling underhood. When stopped at a light with the automatic transmission in drive, however, the engine does vibrate at idle.

Such details won’t matter to those for whom the 500’s aesthetic is irresistible. It has the right look, it is easy to park, comfortable to drive and turns heads everywhere it goes. If, at $25,000 (as tested, as a fully loaded convertible), it’s a touch expensive for an economy car, that may deter bargain hunters, but the fashionable set is accustomed to paying for style.

And if, at 29 mpg, the 500 isn’t as efficient as accords its size, well again, many consumers are prepared to suffer for art, and 29 mpg isn’t painfully bad, it just isn’t boast-worthily good for a cramped four-seater.

The car has been cast in some reports as a slow seller, but with only 100 dealers concentrated on the coasts, Fiat is selling 3,000 a month these days, which is solid for a niche car from a brand that has been absent for three decades.

Look for it to sustain that sales strength for a while because this new 500 successfully marries Italian flair and style with modern global requirements for reliability and safety, so it’s sure to succeed with urban trendsetters.

But for car enthusiasts, Fiat may still have some tweaking to do to dial up the fun factor.

© 2011 msnbc.com. Reprints

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