The F-150 proved to be the best selling truck in the United States thanks to its many tireless capabilities, affordable price, and the endless configurations. The Dodge Ram was also redesigned and received a much more masculine look to it. It also received the first ever set of coil-overs to prop up the rear axle for this segment.

Now there were other models to choose from like the Suzuki Equator, newly badged Nissan Frontier. And the Hummer H3T – but they could not compare with the Ram and Ford. After much deliberation Motor Trend chose the 2009 Ford F-150.

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Close to 15% of the full-size trucks that are sold in the U.S. can be found in Texas and the king of all the sales usually goes to the winner of the Truck of Texas award. That isn’t all the Ford won. They also were given the best truck-line award, the best CUV of Texas, and the best SUV of Texas. All thanks to their new Flex and Expedition King Ranch models.

Not only will Ford be celebrating their accomplishments – but we can only imagine the amount of consumers they will be given because of the publicity.

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The truck’s launch was scheduled for October before it was changed to December. Ford will now be marketing the new truck in November. Main Marketer for Ford – Jim Farley – stated that there are two reasons for this new decision.

The first being that the dealerships managed to clear out their inventory faster then they had expected. The second reason being that Dodge just launched their new 2009 Ram and Ford doesn’t want it to overshadow their launch.

Will the 2009 F150 be any match for the new Ram or even for the current economic standstill? It is obvious that Ford will not be producing large amounts of the new truck due to the fact that gas prices are still high and securing credit is harder then ever. However, there are still those who rely on trucks for their business and those are the people that Ford will be focusing on.

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Sources tell us that Ford is making up for their “extreme losses” (thanks to its leased out vehicles) by increasing the prices for the Ford Explorer, F-150, Sport Trac, and Super Duty. The flaw in this plan is that Ford will have to raise the price to an amount that no one would even want to pay them. It won’t surprise us if they shut down soon after they discover the negatives of this effect.

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The reason for this new engine is because of the rising cost in gasoline and the restrictions set up by CAFÉ. According to new regulations light trucks must average 28.6 mpg by the year 2015. In order to comply with these regulations Ford has dropped the V6 4.2 liter just in time for the 2009 model year. They will only be offering the V8 4.6 liter engine that offers better fuel economy and boosts power and torque.

The EcoBoost range of engines are likely to find their way into several different models across Ford’s line up, and according to Ford’s director of powertrain research, Dan Kapp, EcoBoost engines could allow the automaker to reduce engine sizes by between 40- and 50-percent, so 3.0-liter V6s could be replaced by two-liter fours and a 2.5-liter four cylinder could be reduced to 1.5-liters.

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The full-size Ford F-150 used to be at the top of the new car sales for 17 years – but now it has fallen below and been replaced by more fuel efficient, compact cars. In fact it fell to fifth place behind Accord, Camry, Corolla and Civic, so it appears that it’s time for some incentives.

Rather than fuss with rebates, Ford is bringing customers into the family and extending employee pricing on all new F-Series sold in June. Actually, you can still use the existing rebates on top of the new lower base prices, which makes it a great time to buy one if you really need a pickup. Starting today, all F-Series trucks in the program should be sporting new MSRP addendum stickers showing the new lower prices. The offer covers F-150, F-250 and F-350 models excluding the Harley Davidson and chassis cab models.

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Jim Farley – Ford’s marketing boss – debuted the Raptor – which sported a Ford embossed front grille. In order to show the kind of power it has they brought along a video of it tearing through the desert.

The Raptor has been equipped with a 6.2 liter V8 “BOSS” engine that will produce 380 horsepower, maybe more. The long travel shocks for the Raptor have been given a full 12” of travel and were built by Fox Racing especially for this truck. Needless to say Ford is pumped up about the new F-150 Raptor and it seemed that the dealerships were just as happy about it.

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The Dearborn plant will resume production at the start of the New Year, Ms. Gattari said. Workers are also scheduled to return to the Louisville factory just after New Year’s, a person familiar with the matter said. Ford, along with Detroit competitors General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, has suffered sharp sales declines among its pickups and SUVs. F-Series pickups are off 12.4% through November, while Explorer sales have plunged 23.5%, according to Autodata Corp. Overall, Ford-brand light-duty truck sales, which include pickups and SUVs, have dropped 6.1%.

Detroit’s Big Three auto makers are feeling the pain of plummeting real-estate values and surging fuel prices, both of which have sapped consumer spending. In addition, a marked decline in residential construction has damped sales of Detroit’s profitable pickups. Ford has tended to suffer the most from that trend, as its F-Series trucks are used a disproportionate amount in the home-construction business.

Ford has generally declined to discuss specific factory plans for January but George Pipas, the auto maker’s top sales analyst, said the company would likely target plants building pickups and SUVs for shutdowns or scaled-back overtime as part of the first-quarter production pullback.

Chrysler plans to halt production at truck plants in Warren, Mich., and Fenton, Mo., right before Christmas and extend the shutdown through all of January, according to people familiar with the auto maker’s plans. A third truck plant in Mexico will shut down for the first two weeks of January.

General Motors has said it will temporarily idle three pickup-truck plants for two weeks in January, in addition to the traditional holiday shutdown.

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The system uses a hydraulic pump/motor and high pressure accumulator to recapture kinetic energy when braking, which can then be released when the truck is accelerating to assist the engine. It’s a type of mild hybrid system really, though its effect is promised to be substantial.

Rumors are swirling around the intertubes that a production version of Ford’s Hydraulic Launch Assist technology will debut with the 2009 Ford F-150 at the Detroit Auto Show, or possibly a year later. A figure of 60 mpg was initially thrown around, though consumers are a bit skeptical a production version of HLA could hit the mark. A similar system has already reached the roads on some special Hydraulic Hybrid UPS trucks that were developed by the EPA in conjunction with Eaton and International Truck, both of which are Ford suppliers, as well.

There’s been no confirmation from Ford that the 2009 Ford F-150 will feature HLA, so we’ll have to wait until January when the new truck is unveiled in Detroit to find out for sure. If HLA does make an appearance, it’ll be the second major shake up in the full-size truck segment debuting in Detroit, the other being Dodge’s switch to a coil-sprung rear suspension on the 2009 Ram.

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The new FX2 has a dark billet grille, clear headlamps with platinum bezels and a deep front valance. The monochrome exterior paint scheme includes body-color bumper fascias, side mirror caps and door handles. Unique 18-inch wheels and a chrome exhaust tip are also part of the exterior package.

The cabin boasts black captain’s chairs with red stitching in cloth or leather, and a flow-through center console with a floor shifter. The F-series isn’t slated for a major redesign until model-year 2009. Now there are more F-150s than you can imagine. But when you’re the most popular vehicle in America, heck, there’s plenty to go around.

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