Tim Esterdahl | May 08, 2014 | Comments 3

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Sources have told Tundraheadquarters.com that Ford is delaying the start of their much anticipated 2015 Ford F-150 production until October. This further delay raises many questions about their flagship product.

We are being told Ford’s production plan is being pushed back. While we are left to speculate as to why this is, our thoughts are it has to do with complications arising from the use of aluminum.

As we have reported many times on this site, the use of aluminum is a big gamble for Ford. And while we are relatively certain Ford won’t screw it up, it remains to be seen if the product can come to market with minimal issues.

The current plan, as we understand it, is to begin production in October. Our understanding was the F-150 was supposed to launch in October. This is after being originally delayed from its memorial day launch as Ford had first hoped.

We hear Ford is going to push production on 2014’s just before shutting down and re-tooling. This brings up many million dollar questions:

Can Ford hit the October launch date, or will they delay yet again? If Ford delays, will the dealers run out of product before the 2015s arrive? What’s going to happen to Ford’s sales crown if there’s a delay? What is really going on? Is Alcoa not making the aluminum up to specs or is Ford engineering at fault? Is there a problem with the mixed use of the metals?

The news certainly comes as a surprise after it seems like Ford has been doing quite a bit of publicity around the new truck. It has been at several auto shows and journalists have been invited to have in-depth looks at the manufacturing.

As Ram told us a while ago, Ford is not going to screw it up. However, delaying it, isn’t a good way to start.

What do you think? Will a delay hurt Ford long-term or is this just a hiccup?

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