Ford Struggling to Meet F-150 EcoBoost Demand as Sales Top 100,000

Ford is boosting production of F-150 pickups equipped with its 3.5L EcoBoost V-6, as sales have outpaced the auto maker’s initial volume expectations.

The F-150 with EcoBoost this week eclipsed the 100,000-unit mark just 10 months after it launched, an astonishing feat considering fullsize pickup buyers long have preferred V-8 engines.

Prior to launch “there was a fair amount of uncertainty” about the wisdom of offering the F-150 with a turbocharged, direct-injected V-6, Doug Scott, Ford’s truck marketing manager, tells WardsAuto.

“Two years ago we were selling 100% V-8s,” he says. “We had every reason to be surprised it would ramp up so quickly.”

F-150 sales through November tallied 488,269, an 8.3% increase over year-ago, according to WardsAuto data. Of those, some 40% were equipped with the EcoBoost, Scott says, adding the production mix has been about 42% in favor of the new engine for the last several months.

“We’re trying to catch up with demand, but haven’t gotten there yet,” he says.

“Parts constraints” were behind the shortfall, Ford spokesman Mike Levine says. Suppliers were filling orders, but demand surged unexpectedly.

The parts flow now is better-aligned, Ford says, enabling output increases at the auto maker’s assembly plants in Dearborn, MI, and Kansas City, MO, and the Cleveland plant where the engines are produced.

“Whether we can do more than that is yet to be seen based on getting inventory out there,” Scott says. “Right now I’d say a 45% (take-rate) is the ongoing demand.”

Scott says less than 35% of the F-150s on dealer lots are equipped with the engine. That’s largely because Ford had planned on a take-rate closer to 30%.

The F-150 also is available with a 3.7L V-6, 5.0L V-8 and 6.2L V-8.

EcoBoost’s F-150 take-rate did not soar immediately. The vehicle launched in February and by March the take rate-was in the mid-20% range, Scott says. It grew to 35% by April and has held steady from there.

To prove the durability of the EcoBoost V-6, Ford launched a series of dealer and marketing initiatives, including one over-the-top program that put the mill through a series of grueling tests.

A year ago Ford launched the EcoBoost “torture test,” in which a single engine was run for the equivalent of 150,000 miles (241,401 km) before being installed in a truck. From there it was taken to an Oregon lumber operation where it was pressed into log-skidding service.

Once that duty was complete, the truck was hooked to a trailer hauling two NASCAR race cars and ran at the Homestead race track in Miami for 24 hours.

Next, the truck was used in a competitive challenge against Chevrolet Silverado and Ram pickups before it ran the Baja 100 race in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.

Once the race was complete, the engine was torn down before a live audience at last year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

“We gave customers first-hand exposure and dealers did what they always do – demonstrate the technology, Scott says.

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