DetroitMotorShow:The pick-up has a long and honoured history in the US and, reports Shane O'Donoghue, the latest generation shows little sign of changing.
The crowd of journalists in the Cobo Hall, gathered for the annual Ford press conference on the first day of the Detroit Auto Show, were politely muted. Or rather, they were until it came time to reveal the all-new F-150 pick-up truck, and they went wild with excitement whooping and hollering like they were at a rodeo. Despite all the political posturing and emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions and "gas mileage", there's no getting away from the American people's love affair with the pick-up truck.
It's all too easy to point a finger at the manufacturers for continuing to feed the demand, producing ever larger, more powerful and, more often than not, heavier vehicles in a bid to outdo each other. To put these trucks into perspective, the biggest are dangerously close to the 3,500kg limit an Irish car driver would be allowed to pilot before applying for a truck licence.
None of the "Big Three" dare do anything drastic with their pick-up formula, and in recent years Toyota has entered the fray with its own massive Tundra. In spite of the reflected glory from the Prius and hybrid Lexus models, Toyota knows where the money is made. Ford alone has averaged more than 500,000 F-Series pick-ups a year since 1948, and intends to continue that trend with the new version. Matt O'Leary, chief engineer on the F-150 programme summarised the task the carmakers face: "The new, improved chassis helps deliver additional payload and towing capacity, as well as improved fuel economy, which we know is top of mind for customers."
In essence, the manufacturers are all too aware that the vast majority of current pick-up buyers just want more power and more towing capability. It's accepted that fuel prices are beginning to have an effect on buying trends, but all this means is that customers are demanding both increased performance and reduced fuel costs.
In the midwest, the average buyer still proudly buys American, and blames rising fuel prices on Saddam and the war in Iraq. They have no desire to be seen in a hybrid or electric car for the sake of it. They don't want to drive a Toyota Prius; they want their pick-ups, but with better fuel economy. To be fair to the carmakers, a considerable amount of effort is being expended on this problem, but despite all the new technologies being flaunted about the Detroit show, it's telling that the new F-150 will come only with three large-capacity petrol-fuelled V8s for now. The future fitment of EcoBoost and diesel engines was barely mentioned.
However, diesel power may be the saviour of the carmakers, especially as they are put under increasing pressure by legislators to cut their average fleet emissions. Put simply, the modern generation of turbodiesel has the potential to deliver high performance with less fuel consumption, leading to reduced emissions of carbon dioxide.
European buyers are already sold on this, and with the new VRT rules here, Irish buyers will soon favour diesel power. In America, though, the fuel has traditionally been just about acceptable on commercial vehicles, but this year's Detroit show marked a significant step forward for the acceptance of the fuel in the mass market in the US.
The charge was led by the German companies, having a proven track record in the field. Mercedes-Benz is already selling the Bluetec E-Class across the States, and will follow it up with further Bluetec-badged models this year, while BMW launched its Advanced Diesel with BluePerformance models in Detroit, consisting initially of the high-performance 335d and the new X6 fitted with the same twin-turbo six-cylinder engine. It's as if the heads of each company got together and planned the co-ordinated attack, with Mercedes and BMW mentioning the other's technology in their respective press conferences.
Blue isn't a random colour chosen to make diesel power seem clean to American buyers. It refers to the aqueous urea solution (known as AdBlue) injected into the exhaust stream. This works with the on-board Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalyst to dramatically reduce oxides of nitrogen, one of the traditional stumbling blocks for sales of diesel cars in California - and other states adopting that state's strict emissions legislation. Now that hurdle has been overcome, and the same fundamental technology is to be used by most manufacturers.
There will always be doubters, and a large swathe of America will be slow to take diesel to heart, but if they want to retain their vehicles of choice with ever-improving performance, it may be the only logical way forward in the short to medium term. Anyone not convinced by the effortless performance of the likes of the BMW 335d need only pop by the Audi stand at the show to witness what could be the world's first supercar powered by a diesel engine, the R8 V12 TDI.
Its 6.0-litre V12 may not have much relevance to most buyers, but with 500bhp, 737lb\ft of torque and acceleration figures to rival any petrol supercar, it is a fantastic demonstration of the possibilities of diesel, while using less fuel and emitting fewer pollutants. Now that's worth hollering about.