The 2023 Ford F-150 truck is undergoing local development with Ford Australia engineers ahead of its launch here next year.
Two variants of the F-150, the XLT and Lariat, will be available in Australia and sold through Ford officially without a third party carrying out right-hand drive conversions.
Both variants will be powered by Ford’s 3.5-litre twin-turbo EcoBoost petrol V6 which makes about 280kW and 637Nm in some American specifications, although local outputs are yet to be confirmed given our different fuel quality and environmental constraints.
Ford’s 10-speed auto will be the only gearbox available in the F-150.
Additionally, both trim levels will be available in a short- and long-wheelbase version, with Oxford White paint the only non-cost colour slated to be available.
In testing for Australia, Ford has put the F-150 through extreme temperatures ranging from -40 degrees to a sweltering 50 degrees above zero, as well as undergoing trailer towing, mud, ultra-fine sand, water crossings, and corrosion tests
Ford says testing for the F-150 has seen the truck “travel more than 135,000 kilometres, or the equivalent of driving around Australia nine times.”
Ford Australia performance and customisation chief program engineer Dave Burn says the brand’s local arm is heavily involved in making sure the F-150 shows up ready to take on Australian conditions, just like the Ranger.
“When F-150 hits Australian showrooms, customers can rest assured it’s been put through the same local durability programme as next-generation Ranger and Everest which, of course, is the same programme left-hand drive F-150 went through in the States,” said Mr Burn.
“We’ve torture-tested, tuned and re-worked the right-hand drive F-150 so that Aussie customers know they’re getting the full factory F-150 experience.
“We’re doing everything to make sure the truck will be right at home here in Australia,” said Burn.
Ford Australia says more than 8000 expressions of interest have been registered with the brand since the announcement the F-150 would be sold here.
It adds pricing and final specification will be announced closer to market release in 2023.
"Thousands of customers are going to get a...
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