The Ford F-150 and its chief cross-town rival – the Chevrolet Silverado – are two of the fiercest foes in the automotive world, and have been for many years now. Thus, it’s not a surprise that Ford Authority spies recently spotted Ford benchmarking the Bow Tie pickup, which was entering a FoMoCo facility. However, this isn’t just some normal gas-powered truck, but rather, a Chevy Silverado LTZ Duramax diesel.
The fact that Ford is benchmarking a Chevy Silverado LTZ Duramax is notable because The Blue Oval has already dropped its turbocharged 3.0L V6 Power Stroke diesel from the F-150 lineup, as Ford Authority was the first to report last July. That particular engine was the first diesel ever offered in the F-150, debuting for the 2018 model year. However, due to poor sales, a big price tag, and limited options, it didn’t stick around for long.
Regardless, both General Motors and Stellantis currently offer diesel engines in full-size light-duty trucks at the moment. In addition to GM’s turbocharged 3.0L I-6 Duramax LM2 diesel, the Ram is also available with the turbocharged 3.0L V6 EcoDiesel, though both of those powerplant lag behind the Ford twin-turbocharged 3.5L V6 PowerBoost hybrid in terms of power, fuel economy, and in some cases, max towing capacity, as Ford Authority recently reported.
Meanwhile, the Ford 3.0L V6 Power Stroke lives on in the all-new, next-generation international market Ford Ranger and Ford Everest, both of which have been revealed over the past few months. That powerplant, along with the single turbo and twin-turbo versions of the Ford 2.0L inline four-cylinder diesel – will be built at the Ford Struandale plant in South Africa following an investment of R600 million ($37.8 million USD).
We’ll have more on everything Ford and Lincoln’s competition is up to soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
Maybe Ford is considering the diesel option for the F trucks that will be exported to Australia where diesel rules supreme in not only trucks but most SUVs, Once in Australia Ford will have them converted to a factory backed 5year warranty RHD setup that if it turns out to be popular and profitable may well lead to sales around the world for RHD diesel Effie’s.
How do we know it wasn’t just an employee? Every vehicle pulling into the facility isn’t a “benchmark” vehicle….
No Ford employee is driving a new Chevrolet to work, also it has emissions testing equipment on it.
No ford employee is driving a Chevy to work?
I worked at Ford Broadmeadows plant in Australia in 1968-1970 and they had Holden’s aGM products in their car pool plus Chrysler I would think all manufacturers would be doing it
I have a f150 diesel an no way that hybrid gets what I get in mpg I get 26-28 combined an 31 hwy
I have a couple friends that have these new 3.0 Duramax diesels. They regularly get over 30-33mpg in a 4×4 crew cab truck. Not a GM guy but they’re definitely impressive.