Analysis: The F-150 Reveal Is About More Than Lie-Flat Seats

From Car and Driver

• Ford unveiled the fourteenth-generation F-150 this week, showcasing a luxurious new interior and a new hybrid powertrain.

• This will be the first Ford vehicle to support over-the-air updates, part of a planned Ford strategy to save money on warranties and monetize customer data.

• This type of software-based tracking and data monetization has been in the works at Ford for years.

The American automotive industry runs on pickups. They account for a huge proportion of the vehicles sold in this country every year (18 percent of new cars sold, in 2019), and their large profit margins make them even more important to manufacturers’ bottom lines. In the case of Ford, whose F-150 made up almost 40 percent of its sales in 2019 and whose bungled launch of the Explorer contributed to a dismal financial report last year, that goes double.

At first glance, the F-150’s quinquennial makeover seems designed mostly to put it on level footing with the competition from General Motors and, specifically, Ram, whose fifth-generation 1500 pickup has been winning accolades and customers since it went on sale in early 2018. The new F-150’s mix of available luxury and work-friendly features seem to move it to the front of the pack of Detroit Three trucks. The hybrid powertrain announced at launch and the all-electric model we expect soon may have seemed like a better idea when gas was still four dollars a gallon, but they’ll likely please fleet customers and besides, you never know when the next energy crisis might hit.

But the F-150 redesign isn’t just a new take on a classic formula. Ford is finally setting in motion a strategy they’ve been teasing for years: the use of connectivity, data tracking, and over-the-air updates to accomplish goals ranging from minimizing warranty costs and helping dealers snag maintenance business to the sale of commercial apps and maybe even ads for your infotainment system.