(Adds fuel economy ratings of some Ford, GM and Chrysler models, Ford plans for hybrid truck)
DETROIT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Friday its 2015 F-150 aluminum-intensive pickup truck, the most important model in its latest lineup, will get 5 to 29 percent better fuel economy than its previous versions.
Ford made a heavy investment in changing the F-150 to a lighter, truck from one primarily made of steel. In some versions, the new trucks are as much as 700 pounds lighter than the versions they are replacing.
Raj Nair, Ford's vice president for product development, said that "sometime this decade" the automaker will introduce a hybrid version of the F-150.
An F-150 with an "EcoBoost" 3.5-liter engine and two-wheel drive will get fuel economy of 24 miles per gallon on the highway, 17 MPG in city driving and 20 MPG combined, Ford said.
The General Motors Co Chevrolet Silverado 5.3-liter V8 gets 23 MPG on the highway, 16 MPG in city driving and 19 MPG combined.
Ford expanded its lineup of its "EcoBoost" engines, which allow it to use turbocharging to get more power with fewer cylinders. Ford is now offering a F-150 pickup truck with a 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine, which gets 27 miles per gallon on the highway, 20 mpg in city driving and 22 mpg combined.
The Chrysler LLC Group's Ram 1500 3-liter V6 with a diesel engine, which it called EcoDiesel, gets 28 mpg on the highway, 20 mpg in city driving and a combined 23 mpg. Chrysler is a unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles .
Ford said it sent this week the first shipments of the 2015 F-150 from its primary truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, and will get to U.S. dealers in the coming weeks. This is in line with Ford's previous statements that the F-150 would go on sale in December.
The first sale to a consumer will happen next week, Ford said. It will take several months before the new truck's sales hit full stride.
Production of the new F-150 will begin at Ford's plant near Kansas City, Missouri in the first quarter, the company has said.
The F-150 has been the top-selling vehicle in North America since the 1970s. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang)