Ford Bets On Ecoboost, Chrysler And GM On Natural Gas For Pickups

While both General Motors and Chrysler are putting their money on Compressed Natural Gas options for their pickup-truck lineups, Ford is going with pretty much everything but CNG as it examines alternative fuel strategies for future vehicles – and for now, the 3.5L Ecoboost V6 will be the standard bearer for light duty versions of the Ford F-Series. Automotive News spoke with Ford product development boss Raj Nair, who told the outlet "Relative to what we're achieving with EcoBoost and our electrification strategy in the U.S., what we're achieving with the diesel strategy here in Europe and elsewhere, those are more solid bets to put really solid investments in for mainstream offerings,"  Nair also cited CNG's lack of infrastructure as another reason to avoid CNG. But Chrysler's Ram Tradesman pickup will come in a CNG powered variant, while GM will offer a Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra with a 6.0L V8 that can switch between CNG and regular gasoline. Buried in the article is a quote from Nair stating that Ford will "…do conversions for pickups that would allow them to run on natural gas, Nair said. The market for trucks using the technology will be "very dependent on what the regulatory environment is going to be." So, Ford is still hedging their bets, and looking to see if this "Made in America" fuel will get the kind of economic incentives that EVs and plug-ins  are privy to. Chrysler and GM will join Honda as the big purveyors of CNG powered cars in the United States – Honda sells the Civic GX in small volumes. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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