Given Detroit's history with the pickup, the fact that the North American International Auto Show 2018 was dominated by trucks probably wasn't much of a surprise. All the same, it's telling that these weren't the rough and ready workhorses of pickup tradition. Consumer demand, more stringent regulations, and an undeniable appetite for raising sticker prices on the forecourt have all forced the unthinkable: the pickup truck is growing up.
It should probably come as no surprise that in a city like Detroit, trucks dominated the auto show. All the same, with CES increasingly counting car news among its gadget pageantry just a week prior, there were questions from some quarters as to whether the North American International Auto Show 2018 would have any news left. Turns out, Detroit still had some aces up its sleeve, both domestic and foreign.
This is it: one of the most iconic nameplates in trucks has returned to the US, with the covers taken off the 2019 Ford Ranger at the Detroit Auto Show today. Aiming to take a bite out of the midsize truck market, it's a slice of F-150 ability in a more urban-friendly package. All the same, Ford knows well enough that you can't count solely on nostalgia for sales.
Ford has given up some of the specifications for the 2018 Super Duty trucks and there are gains for the 2018 model year. In fact, the gains allow Ford to grab best-in-class rankings for horsepower, torque, towing, gooseneck towing, and payload. The 6.7L Power Stroke V8 turbodiesel has 450hp, a gain of 10hp compared to the previous year.
The new Tesla Semi has already found some high-profile buyers, with Walmart and more confirming they've placed reservations for the all-electric truck. Unveiled last night, the Tesla Semi does away with traditional diesel engines altogether and, like the California automaker's cars, replaces them with high-powered electric motors. The big pitch is zero-emissions shipping and less maintenance.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesn't believe in making his life easy. Model 3 production may only be slowly ramping up now, but that hasn't stopped the electric-obsessed automaker from holding a whizz-bang launch for its next product, the Tesla truck. It's a chance today to finally see the vehicle that Musk has promised will revolutionize haulage: here are the big questions he needs to answer.
Daimler just unveiled the E-FUSO Vision One, a heavy-duty all-electric truck with a range of 350 kilometers and a futuristic design that won't be confused with gasoline trucks on the road. The E-FUSO Vision One has made its public debut before Tesla's own all-electric heavy duty truck, giving Daimler the upper hand at the moment.
Early next year Ram will roll out a refreshed version of its popular 1500 truck and recently the prototype of that truck was spied wearing very little camo. The only thing that Ram has taken pains to cover up on the truck was the center of the grille. That grille center appears to be fatter on each end than it is in the middle and overall the truck looks very cool.
Today a photograph appeared with what appears to be the not-yet-revealed Tesla Semi Truck. While Tesla plans on revealing this vehicle at their next event and has said as much, they've not yet shown nearly this much to the public. This vehicle has been teased in an invite to the event, but the vehicle has not been uncovered in this large a leak until now.
A few days back we talked a bit about the Tesla electric semi that it had been working on. Word is that the electric big rig can go up to 300 miles per charge making it appropriate for regional deliveries. Tesla isn't the only big name in the big rig industry looking at a cleaner future and electric semi trucks. Cummins, one of the biggest names in diesel engines, is talking up its next generation of "energy diverse products and technology solutions."
Nissan has been offering vehicles with blacked out wheels and trim for several model years now and has recently added its three trucks to the Midnight Edition family. The trucks include the Titan, Titan XD, and Frontier mid-size truck. With the addition of the three trucks to the Midnight family, there are now nine models available in Midnight Editions. The others include the Altima, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue, and Sentra.
A new self-driving truck startup, Embark, has revealed its first autonomous vehicle, and is set to begin testing in Nevada. The company has eschewed the typical self-driving fare of passenger vehicles, despite many rivals focusing their development attention there, and instead predicts that long-distance haulage will be the place AI drivers make the biggest splash. Most importantly, perhaps, it's not threatening to make all truck drivers redundant as a result.