Big US ute's Aussie nightmare almost over

Ford’s F-150 experiment in Australia has hit lots of bumps along the road.

Sales of the big rig have slowed to a trickle, with just four deliveries recorded in the past four months. A far cry from the 200-plus a month that were finding homes at the start of this year.

This has been due to a hold on deliveries from as far back as July for what is believed to be a fix for quality issues.

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Good news, the long pause is over and the supply of F-150s will start to flow again once recall fixes have been undertaken.

In that time it has ceded a lot of ground to its competitors.

Ford has fallen well behind its rivals with just 549 F-150 sales through the first 10 months of this year. 

Ram has sold 2321 1500s in that time, Chevrolet has sold 1814 Silverado 1500s and Toyota 676 Tundras.

The big American pick-up truck launched in 2023, but has been hit with numerous stop sale orders due to compliance issues and multiple recalls, which raises quality concerns.

Ford Australia gave the contract to Thai-based company RMA Automotive to convert the F-150 from left-hand drive to right-hand drive in a Melbourne factory.

The Blue Oval’s main rivals the Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado and Toyota Tundra are all converted by Walkinshaw, the company previously known for delivering fast Holdens. 

Remanufacturing vehicles from left- to right-hand drive is a big and complicated operation. The F-150 alone uses about 500 new parts and takes about 22 hours to convert.

Ford has also just launched the Ranger Super Duty, which fills the role of the F-150 in many situations.

It matches the F-150’s 4500kg braked towing capacity and has a superior GVM (4500kg) and GCM (8000kg).

It is also cheaper and smaller, making it more palatable for Australian roads and car buying public.

The Super Duty also uses diesel grunt compared to the F-150’s petrol power. The Super Duty uses a 154kW and 600Nm 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6 engine and the F-150 is powered by a 3.5-litre turbo-petrol V6 (298kW/678Nm).

Ford’s Australian CEO Andrew Birkic recently told CarsGuide the F-150 was going nowhere.

“I would see [Super Duty] and the full-size pick-up segment as two different customers,” he said.

“I think the full-size pick-up will continue to do well because it has a particular customer.”