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Published on Thursday, October 02, 2008
By LA Daily News Staff Writer
Ford Motor Co. kicked off production Thursday of a new, more-fuel-efficient version of its popular F-150 pickup truck -- and the timing could hardly be worse.
Fuel cost has jumped to one of the typical truck buyer's top-five concerns, company officials said, so they are banking on the truck's improved gas mileage to lure back customers. But tight credit and increasing worries about economic instability have pulled U.S. auto sales to a 15-year low, with truck sales leading the plunge.
Ford said the new F-150 has an average 8 percent increase in fuel economy. The two- wheel-drive F-150 with a 5.4-liter, three-valve V-8 engine averages 14 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway, up from 13 mpg in the city and 17mpg on the highway for the 2008 model.
In September, Ford truck sales nose-dived 39 percent as shoppers continued to gravitate toward small fuel-efficient cars
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