Ford Marketing Trucks to Women

D E T R O I T, Jan. 7 -- Question: What's the most popular vehicle sold in this country?

Answer: the Ford F-series pickup truck.

That's right, the F-series has beaten all competitors — truck or car — for the last 21 years.

It helps to explain why Ford feels so strongly about its truck fleet and why it has crossed its fingers and hoped for the best as the F-series has undergone its first makeover in seven years.

With one out of every four vehicles Ford sells being a truck, the fate of the F-series is critical to the fortunes of a company that lost more than $5 billion a year ago.

So it's no surprise to find Ford looking to broaden the base of truck buyers.

Where are Ford executives looking?

"A lot more women are buying a pickup truck for themselves, for their lifestyle," said automotive journalist Courtney Caldwell, of American Women Road and Travel. "That's what it is. It's about lifestyle."

Ford Marketing New Comfort

So Ford is responding.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, Ford marketing manager Jeff Marentic said the new F-150 models are different.

"We have dialed up comfort on this vehicle and we've dialed up convenience on this vehicle," he said.

The F-150 Lariat, which will be available in late summer, looks almost like a Jaguar on the inside, with plush leather seats and plenty of chrome.

"It offers levels of craftsmanship, levels of options, levels of features that you would never think you would find in a pickup truck," says Marentic.

The F-150s now have vanity mirrors, standard runningboards, softer seats and even DVD players to occupy toddlers in the back seat. They also have pedals that adjust for smaller drivers. The vehicle is lower overall than its predecessors.

Shelley Bertucci of suburban Chicago is at the forefront of the trend toward women in pickups. She owns a Ford pickup and drives her four kids around town in it. She also says it has a certain cachet that other vehicles do not possess.