The past and future met recently as the first aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup rolled off the assembly line at Ford Motor Co.’s Dearborn Truck Plant. It was nearly 87 years after another trendsetting vehicle burst onto the scene elsewhere in the massive Rouge Center complex—the Model A sedan.
The next-generation F-150 is one of the most anticipated new vehicles in decades. In fact, some experts argue that it is Ford’s most important product launch since the Model A sedan superseded the Model T in 1927. Ford spent $3 billion developing the new F-150 and the automated production processes used to assemble it.