When the 2015 Ford F-150 first showed at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and it was revealed to have an aluminum body, much shouting commenced. Some industry pundits thought it was a smart, forward-thinking move to bolster fuel economy; others insisted that the relative difficulty of repairing aluminum would spell disaster.
Now, it looks like that first group of pundits gets to have the last laugh, as Automotive News reports that the Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) division of TrueCar is actually estimating a higher resale value for the 2015 Ford F-150 than the preceding model year truck.
To put that into numbers, ALG is estimating that a three year-old 2015 Ford F-150 will retain about 58 percent of its resale value, as opposed to 52 percent for the 2014 model year vehicle. That represents an 11.5 percent jump.
It is true that aluminum is more expensive to work with than steel, especially when it comes to reshaping panels after they’ve been damaged (aluminum has no “shape memory,” where steel does). However, the benefit to fuel economy offered by the use of an aluminum body is – at least in this application – more than enough to ensure higher resale values for the 2015 Ford F-150, meaning that consumers can safely count on a better return on their investment when it’s time to sell or trade-up.
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