The Driver - Spring 2017 TheDriver_Spring_2017_v4_singles | Page 4

TEST DRIVE
What vehicle
continues to outsell every
other year after year?
by
David Taylor
E
stérel, QC – For the past 51
consecutive years, the oft-revered
Ford F-150 half-ton pickup has
been king of the castle in terms of annual
sales of all vehicles in Canada. In fact, in
2016, Ford Motor Company of Canada
managed to move 145,409 units from
showroom floors and the factory – and
that number represented an increase of
some 22.4 percent over 2015.
Is there no stopping this juggernaut?
For the first two months of 2017, Ford’s
truck sales are already up 3.9 percent
over the same period last year.
For a moment, let’s put these results
into some form of perspective: in 2016,
the top-selling car in Canada was the
Honda Civic – the 19th consecutive year
this achievement had been reached.
Honda Canada sold 64,950 Civics.
Interestingly enough, this was down
slightly (-0.6 percent) from 2015.
The vehicle which finished second in
overall sales in 2016 in Canada was the
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RAM truck with 91,195 units sold – down
2.4 percent from 2015.
With a difference of more than
50,000 units sold between position
one and two, what will it take for any
manufacturer to knock Ford off their
best-selling pedestal?
OK, to be clear, this is one of those
rhetorical questions.
Ford, it would appear doesn’t take
their lauded position for granted.
While it may be conceivable they could
possibly cruise along without any new
technology or engineering innovation in
the next few model years, for 2017, they
continue to build and reinforce their
position.
When it was announced that the
2017 F-150 would come to market with
new engineering-oriented technology,
specifically a 10-speed automatic
transmission and a new base engine, the
proven and refined second-generation
3.5-litre V6 EcoBoost, heads were raised
and tilted with interest, like Meerkats on
a desert plain.
This somewhat new and improved
motor would replace the 6.2-litre
naturally-aspirated V8 and would
generate 375 horsepower and a
stump-pulling 470 lb.-ft. of torque. Ford
engineers refer to this EcoBoost as “all
new.” That would be a fair statement
given that the block is new, the turbos
are new, the cooling system according
to Ed Krenz, Chief Functional Engineer,
Ford Performance is new, and the
fuel-delivery method now employs both
direct and port injectors for improved
emissions and greater power.
The V6 EcoBoost engine comes
paired exclusively with a 10-speed (yes,
10 – not eight and certainly not nine),
but a 10-speed automatic transmission
co-developed with General Motors.
Interestingly, when General Motors
first introduced the world to true fluid
automatic transmissions in 1940, their