Ford to Build 2020 F-150 Hybrid at Rouge Plant in Detroit
The upcoming hybrid truck will be built at Ford’s historic plant on the Rouge River.
A Ford F-150 rolls off the assembly line at Ford's Rouge plant in Detroit every 53 seconds. In 2020, one of the F-150 variants will be the new F-150 hybrid.
Ford confirmed the F-150 hybrid, a first for the Blue Oval, during the 2017 North American International Auto Show with a teaser video. The video confirms that the truck will be a plug-in hybrid with the ability to use the truck as a generator. For the worksite, that means the truck can power tools even without electricity from the power grid. For the weekend, it means it can power a tailgate party; it'll keep your beer cold. No information about production was made available at that point.
At a recent event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Rouge plant, Ford confirmed that the F-150 hybrid will be produced there. Ultimately, it’s not that surprising since the plant produces many of the variants of F-150 now, including the Raptor. Along with the famed Rouge plant, the F-150 is also produced at a Ford facility in Kansas City, Missouri.
The hybrid model adds to a complete suite of powertrain offerings for the Ford F-150. Starting with the 2018 refresh, customers can purchase an F-150 with 6 different engine offerings.
The base engine is a 3.3-liter naturally-aspirated V6 making 290 horsepower and 265 pound-feet of torque. Moving up from there is a tweaked version of Ford's 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 with 325 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. A naturally-aspirated 5.0-liter V8 makes 395 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. A 3.5-liter EcoBoost makes 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque.
Plus, there's the Raptor's 3.5-liter EcoBoost with 450 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque that is also in the new Ford F-150 Limited. Finally, for those looking for a diesel engine, the F-150 is available with a 3.0-liter Power Stroke V6 turbo diesel with 250 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque.
The F-150 hybrid will help round out the portfolio and is part of Ford's effort to bring electrification to its lineup. The Drive reached out to Dawn McKenzie, Ford's truck communications manager, for more details. While she didn't provide any more information about the truck, she did confirm to us that the 2020 year is calendar year not model year.
That means we're still more than a year away from the truck being available. We expect more details to emerge within the next few months as we get closer to an official reveal of the truck.
