The world’s best-selling truck has landed on Australian shores, no doubt sparking fear and hatred from inner-city environmentalists and cyclists.
A shipment of 98 Ford F-150 vehicles arrived in Melbourne early Saturday morning after traveling 15,000 km from Baltimore, USA.
The huge vehicles, which weigh more than two tonnes and consume 22.8 liters of petrol per 100km, will now head to a factory in Mickleham, north Melbourne, where they will be transformed from left-hand drive to right-hand drive, before being shipped to dealers around the world. the country.
A shipment of 98 Ford F-150s arrived in Melbourne early Saturday morning after traveling 15,000km from Baltimore, USA (pictured)
The huge trucks will now head to a factory in Mickleham, north Melbourne, where they will be transformed from left-hand drive to right-hand drive, before being shipped to dealerships across the country.
But the arrival of the F-150 in Australia is likely to worry cycling advocacy groups like the Bicycle Network (file image)
Andrew Birkic, president and chief executive of Ford Australia, said the ute was “perfect for those who want to explore our amazing country in luxury and comfort.”
“With its 4.5-tonne towing capacity, the F-150 ensures Australians can go anywhere, with almost anything, at any time,” he added.
But the 8-foot-wide vehicles, far larger than the country’s most popular utility vehicle, the 6-foot-wide Toyota Hilux, are likely to draw the fury of cycling activists.
On Tuesday, the advocacy group and charity Bicycle Network shared a report from the Insurance Institute for US Highway Safety that looked at the number of deaths on US highways between 2018 and 2021.
It found that there were higher driver and passenger fatality rates among pickup trucks and SUVs than among other cars.
“The belief that people are better protected in bigger, heavier and more powerful cars is becoming something of a myth,” the Bicyle Network wrote.
“But the fear that these powerful machines are a serious threat to other road users is turning out to be all too true.”
The 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 gasoline engines in Ford’s F-150 will also no doubt draw angry responses from environmental groups.
The program ‘Ute Beauty!’ The Climate Council report, published in April this year, found that Australia’s two best-selling utility vehicles today, the Toyota HiLux and the Ford Ranger, are among the most expensive to run and have low CO2 emissions from the tube exhaust.
And a report from the Australian Institute, titled ‘In Reverse’ and published in March, found that Australia’s obsession with off-road vehicles and SUVs was causing emissions to skyrocket and costing people more fuel.
“Australians buy big, dumb cars and that means we spend far more on petrol than we should,” the authors wrote.
“The fact that these cars stay on the road for a long time makes it more difficult to achieve our emission reduction targets.”
The F-150, part of Ford’s F-Series, is the undisputed market leader in ATV sales worldwide.
Despite this, utes remain the first choice for Australian car buyers, with more than one in five of every new vehicle sold in the country last year being a traditional workhorse.
In 2022 Australians bought 228,671 compared to just 115,196 hybrid and electric vehicles.
American pickup trucks have taken the Australian market by storm, with RAM currently being the largest supplier in Australia.
In the last month alone, more than 1,200 such trucks have rolled off the production line and onto Australian roads.
Chevrolet is also seeing sales of the Silverado 1500 pickup skyrocket in Australia.
Ford dealers surveyed by Drive Let’s say the F-150 sells out for six to 12 months, depending on the variant, before customers have had a chance to test drive one.
