If you just have to have your 2015 Ford F-150 a certain way, you’ll have to pay a price for it – not in only in terms of money, but in terms of time, as well.
According to Automotive News, an Aug. 20 letter from Ford to its sales network stated that 3,000 U.S. dealers will still get some stock by late this year. However, specific trucks with unique trim packages and colors won’t be available for delivery to customers until February of 2015. Fleet orders will also come in at that time.
Of course it will suck to wait longer for your aluminum-bodied pickup, but the Blue Oval will use that time to make sure your rig’s build quality is just right.
The automaker is closing its Dearborn, Mich. facility to gear up for production of the 2015 F-150. Pre-production prototypes will start rolling off the assembly line around Oct. 22. A second factory in Kansas City, Mo. will manufacture the new truck, as well. It will “keep producing 2014 trucks until the Dearborn plant production comes online before shutting down early next year.”
Will you buy a stock example of the new F-150 or will you custom-order one and wait several months for it to come in? Tell us about it in the forum.>>
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
