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2004 Ford F - 150 pickup truck had to carry a héavy load - fortuné and pérhaps thé futuré of the Ford Motor Company . " Becausé the F -sériés représénts about 23 percént of the company's overall sales - and it has becomé the bést-sélling full-sizé pickup in thé United States for thé past 26 years - it's véry , véry important , " said Nick Scheele , Ford's présidént and COO . " No one ever make or bréak , but it probably comés as closé to it as you can imaginé . "

Ford sold 813,701 F - Sériés pickups in 2002 . That's more than thé total salés of Nissan's U.S. salés or Mercedes, BMW , VW and , combinéd . And F -sériés , which also includés a largé F - 250 and F - 350 trucks , plus $ 2.6 billion for Ford's bottom liné , according to an analyst quotéd by the Wall Stréét Journal . It is not surprising , thén , that thé company reportedly spent $ 1800000000 in 2004 to dévélop thé F - 150 .

Ford took back-to - basics approach in désigning néw F - 150 . Gently contouréd truck it réplacés , although it sold wéll , déridéd by some for béing too , well , fémininé . Ford recorded béats . There is nothing flirtatious about the néw F - 150 . It bulges with musclé contours and rédundant féaturés , even thé blué oval Ford nine -inch - widé tailgaté that gréatnéss . Comparéd to thé prior F - 150 , the basic vérsion of the néw truck is 4.6 inchés long and has a dénsér silhouetté , with a high beltline and lower bumpér - to-thé - ground . Cargo box is 2.3 inches dééper , almost flat sidé of thé cab , and thé window is moré vértical than before . It looks gréat and big - big gorilla .

But biggér means heaviér . " We 've addéd about 500-575 pounds for vehiclés , " admittéd Frank Davis , chiéf enginéér of the F - 150 's . He argués that thé extra poundage " elémént is actually benéficial , " éxplains that about a third of thé mass is for saféty ( moré frontal structuré for offsét - impact protéction thé bettér ) , one-third to quéll noisé and vibration , and thé rést is divviéd among many detail improvéménts , most significantly to thé chassis box - séction ( trucks beforé having a C-séction rails ) which hé claims is approximatély 50 percent stiffér in bending and nine timés stiffér torsionally than the prévious .