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Pickup sales may hit 2M units for first time since 2007

Even as fuel prices creep back up, trucks are still a hot item among new-vehicle shoppers. To see how popular pickup trucks still are, you don't have to look any further than how much effort automakers put into the continual one-upmanship of their trucks. Backing this fact up, USA Today is reporting that the segment could top two million sales this year - a total not matched since 2007, though still far from the pre-recession, three-million-unit levels.
Through August, the Ford F-Series continues to be the segment leader with almost 500,000 units sold, but the Chevy Silverado (328,269), Ram 1500 (234,642), GMC Sierra (122,232) and Toyota Tacoma (110,293) are all seeing at least 20-percent sales increases, helping to account for around 1.44 million truck sales so far this year - not including possible outliers like the Suzuki Equator and Chevy Avalanche.
This year alone, General Motors has completely redesigned its fullsize trucks, Ram and Toyota have significantly updated their offerings, the next-gen Ford F-150 will be out next year and Nissan is promising an all-new Titan around the same time with an eventual Cummins diesel under the hood. It would seem, then, that truck sales are poised to continue their upward trend.

Ford to reveal Vignale sub-brand with special Mondeo in Frankfurt

Ford says that 10-15 percent of its customers in Europe want their cars to be set apart from regular Fords - even those wearing the top Titanium X trim - and the Blue Oval will answer them with the Vignale sub-brand. The new brand proposes a more upscale look and a much-improved dealership experience, Autocar reports. The Vignale Mondeo will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show to kick off the new endeavor.
The first Ford to receive the Vignale treatment will be the 2015 Mondeo, a Euro-only model, followed by the new S-Max and Edge. The Vignale Mondeo is set apart visually from other Mondeos by a chrome grille and chrome door handles and mirror caps. Mondeo badging will be deleted - only Vignale badging will make an appearance.
The interior will get a more upscale flavor, as well, with quilted leather seats and door trim and leather covering the instrument panel, center console and steering wheel. A Vignale-badged storage drawer will be installed in the trunk, and in-car Wi-Fi is available.

Ford, Alcoa announce next generation of aluminum lightweighting for F-150

Ford likes what it has seen with the use of aluminum in its world-beating F-150 pickup trucks. Now, the Blue Oval is working with Alcoa to use that company's Micromill material to increase the amount of aluminum in Ford vehicles. In fact, Ford will start using Micromill on 2016 model-year F-150s later this year, and will double the material's use in 2017. The purpose, as you might suspect, is light weighting, which allows Ford to boost towing capacity while adding as little weight as possible. Ford will be the first automaker to use Micromill, and will use it in both structural components and exterior panels. Micromill's rolling-mill system cuts the time it takes to turn molten metal into coil to 20 minutes from about 20 days. Already, Ford has had positive results by using aluminum on its leading pickup truck model. In April, it was announced that the 2015 Ford F-150 achieved a five-star Overall Vehicle Score in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's testing. Safety features like inflatable seat belts, adaptive steering columns and a forward collision warning system helped matters. General Motors may have taken note of those results, even after running an ad campaign touting its continued use of steel over aluminum. Last month, GM said it would sink $877 million into its Flint, MI, truck factory. Reuters said much of the expense was to convert many of the bodies for models like the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups into aluminum. You can take a look at Ford's press release below. Ford Motor Company and Alcoa Inc. are collaborating to produce next-generation automotive aluminum alloys that are more formable and design-friendly. Ford will use Alcoa's Micromill® material in multiple components on the 2016 F-150 – becoming the first automaker to use the advanced automotive aluminum commercially. The companies entered into a joint development agreement to collaborate on next-generation aluminum alloys for automotive parts using Micromill™ technology. ''Light-weighting enables us to design vehicles with great customer attributes – like the F-150, which can tow more, haul more, accelerate quicker and stop faster than the previous F-150, and is more fuel-efficient than ever," said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president and chief technical officer, Global Product Development.