Ford F-150 sales tipped to top 5000 a year

Australia’s appetite for full-size American pick-up trucks is growing at a staggering rate, with the arrival of the iconic Ford F-150 set to almost double the size of the booming segment.

Ford is predicting it will sell at least 5000 units of the F-150 per year Down Under, meaning it will challenge the RAM 1500 as the most popular full-size US pick-up offered in Australia.

And tellingly, Ford says it has plenty of capacity to convert more F-150s should demand for its big truck continue to rise.

The F-150 is converted to right-hand drive by Ford’s remanufacturing partner, RMA Automotive, who has confirmed it can add a second shift, and possibly even a third, to boost output if required.

“We’ve got 200 people and we make 20 per day,” said RMA Automotive’s general manager Trevor Negus. “It’s about a 2.5 day system [to fully convert an F-150].”

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Negus confirmed those figures are for a single shift and said adding a second or third shift is possible.

“Absolutely,” he said. “The whole facility has been built with other products in mind. So we've got the capacity to take larger F-Series, we’ve got the capacity to take other vehicles and, as you pointed out, we’ve got another shift to go to.”

Last year, Aussies bought 8538 full-size American utes and the segment is continuing to boom in 2023 with sales already up 42 percent year-to-date in September.

Currently the most popular full-size ute is the RAM 1500, which notched up 5481 sales in 2022 and is already well on track to gazump that figure this year.

RAM 1500 sales are up by 38 percent year-to-date and already sit at 5022 units with three months left in the calendar year. For context, the RAM 1500 is outselling smaller 4x4 dual-cabs like the Volkswagen Amarok (3848) and is virtually on par with the Nissan Navara 4x4 (5230)

Ford admits RAM’s runaway success – and the healthy profits that come with it – played a big role in its decision to import and reengineer the F-150.

SALES GROWTH OF US PICK-UPS

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RAM 1500 (right) is currently the best-selling full-size ute. It dwarfs Franger Raptor (left) for size

How big is the full-size segment in Australia?

If Ford can hit its predicted sales of 5000 units per year, it will effectively double the size of the segment. And that’s before you factor in sales juggernaut Toyota, which will wade into the full-size ute landscape later this year with the Tundra.

Like the RAM 1500 and Chevy Silverado, the Tundra will be converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw Automotive and is powered by a 3.5-litre V6 hybrid powertrain.

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The Toyota Tundra will start arriving in RHD later this year

“What we know is RAM have done a really good job,” said Ford Australia boss Andrew Birkic. “Walkinshaw and RAM have done a super job and opened up the segment. We think we’ve got a pretty good truck so it’s about to get interesting isn’t it? We won’t talk sales volumes, we don’t do that, what we will focus on is building the right product.”

Despite Birkic’s reluctance to talk numbers, it’s clear Ford is hoping to convert around 5000 F-150s annually based on RMA’s output of 20 units per day. That means the entirety of the full-size segment should easily topple 10,000 total sales in 2024 and it could even approach 15,000 if demands continues to grow.

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That’s still a shadow of the mid-size 4x4 segment, which is dominated by the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger, of course, which notched up 173,883 sales in 2022.

But despite their size (or perhaps because of it) and the fact they carry six-figure price tags and are powered by big and relatively thirsty engines, the popularity of American trucks is showing no signs of slowing.