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2015 Ford F-150 named Truck of Texas, Lincoln and Jeep also awarded at Truck Rodeo

The Ford Motor Company has a lot of reasons to celebrate after winning eight categories in this year's Texas Auto Writers Association's annual Truck Rodeo. Most important among them, the Blue Oval's latest 2015 Ford F-150 earned the prestigious Truck of Texas award, ending the Ram 1500's two-year winning streak. The 2015 Lincoln MKC also grabbed the honor as the CUV of Texas, and Ford was named Truck Line of Texas.
FoMoCo even took trophies for best technology with its extensive use of aluminum on its latest F-Series and best commercial vehicle for the new Transit 250. It wasn't a total sweep, though, because the Jeep Grand Cherokee grabbed the title of the SUV of Texas for the fifth straight time.
This year's event put 60 auto writers in 75 pickups, SUVs and crossovers and challenged them to find the best in a plethora of categories. All of the winners are listed below, and scroll down to read the full announcements from the Texas Auto Writers Association and Ford.

Aluminum lightweighting does, in fact, save fuel

When the best-selling US truck sheds the equivalent weight of three football fullbacks by shifting to aluminum, folks start paying attention. Oak Ridge National Laboratory took a closer look at whether the reduced fuel consumption from a lighter aluminum body makes up for the fact that producing aluminum is far more energy intensive than steel. And the results of the study are pretty encouraging. In a nutshell, the energy needed to produce a vehicle's raw materials accounts for about 10 percent of a typical vehicle's carbon footprint during its total lifecycle, and that number is up from six percent because of advancements in fuel economy (fuel use is down to about 68 percent of total emissions from about 75 percent). Still, even with that higher material-extraction share, the fuel-efficiency gains from aluminum compared to steel will offset the additional vehicle-extraction energy in just 12,000 miles of driving, according to the study. That means that, from an environmental standpoint, aluminum vehicles are playing with the house's money after just one year on the road. Aluminum-sheet construction got topical real quickly earlier this year when Ford said the 2015 F-150 pickup truck would go to a 93-percent aluminum body construction. In addition to aluminum being less corrosive than steel, that change caused the F-150 to shed 700 pounds from its curb weight. And it looks like the Explorer and Expedition SUVs may go on an aluminum diet next. Take a look at SAE International's synopsis of the Oak Ridge Lab's study below. Life Cycle Energy and Environmental Assessment of Aluminum-Intensive Vehicle Design Advanced lightweight materials are increasingly being incorporated into new vehicle designs by automakers to enhance performance and assist in complying with increasing requirements of corporate average fuel economy standards. To assess the primary energy and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) implications of vehicle designs utilizing these materials, this study examines the potential life cycle impacts of two lightweight material alternative vehicle designs, i.e., steel and aluminum of a typical passenger vehicle operated today in North America. LCA for three common alternative lightweight vehicle designs are evaluated: current production ("Baseline"), an advanced high strength steel and aluminum design ("LWSV"), and an aluminum-intensive design (AIV).

Ford hurt by 2015 F-150 production restraints

The new 2015 Ford F-150 came out of the gate strong for January 2015 with all F-Series sales up 17 percent for the month. However, February tempered those gains a bit with the model line dipping 1.2 percent, and the Ford brand itself dropped 1.7 percent year-over-year. The fall is being blamed in part on tight supply of the latest pickup. A major factor holding back the 2015 F-150 is that they are only currently being made at the Dearborn Truck Plant. The Kansas City factory is still changing over, and full supply from them both is expected by the middle of the year. Ford also just announced plans to hire an extra 1,550 people to build the pickups, including 900 in Kansas City. However, the downtime in the assembly changeover has caused about 90,000 units in lost production since mid-2014, according to The Detroit Free Press. It's not all bad news for the pickup, though. The latest F-150 made up 21 percent of F-Series sales in February, according to The Detroit Free Press, up from 18 percent in the previous month, and they remained on dealer lots an average of 18 days. The lessened supply has also meant lower incentives. Mark LaNeve, Ford's US marketing boss, told the Free Press that average F-150 transaction prices were up $2,000 from last year. He also indicated that retail figures grew seven percent in February, while F-Series fleet numbers were down 18 percent. The constrained supply does come at an inopportune time for Ford, though. This year is expected to be huge for pickups. Also, lower gas prices appear to be pushing people towards SUVs and trucks recently. Related Video: