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TechTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Paul. If you've seen our channel before, you'll know that Australians love
00:04dual cab utes, backies, pickup trucks, whatever you want to call them. Ford has just announced
00:09that they will be remanufacturing the F-150 pickup truck to right-hand drive for the Australian
00:15market. This news is very fresh, so I'm going to take you through everything that we know so far
00:20before the F-150 officially goes on sale in Australia in mid-2023. Now before we get started,
00:26I've got to apologise for the echo. We're in our chalet here out on a shoot and we've decided to
00:31quickly put this video together. Now what is the story with this? So F-150, they sell about a
00:36million of these in the States. It's the most popular vehicle in the US and the most popular
00:40pickup truck as well. To put that million into perspective, Australia's new car market is about
00:46a million units in total and Ford sells that in just one vehicle, which is pretty incredible.
00:52Now why wouldn't they just make a right-hand drive version of the F-150 out of the States?
00:57Their production capacity runs pretty much 100%, so they are completely chock-a-block. They also
01:01have the Lightning electric vehicle now as well and they don't have any capacity to produce
01:06right-hand drive because there are really just limited markets around the world for right-hand
01:10drive. So instead what Ford's doing is they've decided to convert the F-150 to right-hand drive
01:15here in Australia. So they'll import left-hand drive vehicles and convert them to right-hand
01:18drive. Now this isn't something new. We've seen other brands doing this. Chevy with the Silverado,
01:23they all do these conversions here in Australia and then you have other firms outside of the
01:27manufacturers that also do the conversions and you've seen our TRX review with OzMV. They do
01:32the same thing here in Australia. This one will be an official Ford conversion, which means it will
01:36have a Ford warranty, five-year unlimited kilometre. You'll be able to service it at
01:41Ford dealers and they will back all of the accessories that they sell with the F-150 as
01:44well. How are they tracking with it? Well they've engaged the services of a Thai firm called RMA
01:50Automotive. These guys specialise in re-manufacturing vehicles. Now when I say
01:55re-manufacturing, this isn't just a case of moving the steering wheel and using like a
02:00chain-driven system to make it work. This will be a bespoke product that will work completely in
02:05right-hand drive that will be approved by Ford and that's the important part. These guys will
02:10have CAD drawings and all the information they need to make sure this conversion is done properly
02:14and that it feels, looks and drives just like a right-hand drive version of the F-150 out of the
02:20factory would. Ford is at the stage now where they have a prototype version of a right-hand
02:26drive vehicle roaming the streets. They are in a position where they think they will have all of
02:30this ready by mid-2023, so there's still a little bit of time to go but it is a promising sign in
02:35terms of what customers can expect. Now it all comes down to two variants for the Australian
02:39market. They will import the XLT and the Lariat. So these sit about mid-spec in terms of the F-150
02:46range. They're both very good sellers in the States in terms of volume which is why they've
02:49chosen them and they'll both be fitted with the EcoBoost petrol V6 engine. It's just under 300
02:55kilowatts of power, close to 700 newton meters of torque and that's all made into a 10-speed
02:59automatic transmission that is the most popular seller in the States and it really sort of blends
03:04power, torque and efficiency so it really sort of ticks all of those boxes. You've got to remember
03:09that the F-150, even though it looks like quite a big truck, it weighs around the same as something
03:14like a Ford Ranger Raptor and that's due to its aluminium construction. So a punchy V6 EcoBoost
03:19petrol engine is going to go really well in this especially for the Australian market. These things
03:23can tow over 4,000 kilograms and depending on how they certify it for the Australian market it means
03:28that you can actually use this as a workhorse and a daily work vehicle for towing and all that kind
03:33of thing. We don't know what they're going to fit with the XLT and the Lariat in terms of standard
03:37equipment but we do know that you can get a number of different options in the US market and they'll
03:42probably tick a few of those boxes when it does finally arrive in Australia. Earlier this year we
03:46had the chance to drive an F-150 in the States and it was a platinum hybrid version and it had two
03:51features that I really loved. One was a fold-out workbench. It would fold the gear stick down out
03:56of the way and then the centre console will fold into a workbench. That means you can set up a
04:01laptop and do stuff on your work break and then in addition to that you had lay flat seats so you
04:06could have a kip in your F-150 and then not have to worry about finding a hotel for the night. Kind
04:14of similar to the Lexus LX that we had a look at recently. So these are some of the great features
04:19that we expect to see. For work-related features we're talking about things like the ability to
04:24configure the tray's scale and what it does is using the infotainment screen inside the car it
04:28will tell you how loaded you are in terms of payload. It can even use the taillights to give
04:33you an indication of when you are reaching maximum payload. Then in addition to that you have a number
04:38of different options for powering things out of the tray. You can power up to seven kilowatts worth
04:42of power using the engine as a generator. So this is a proper work truck and if you are looking for
04:48something that is great for the weekend and comfortable as a cruiser but can also do your
04:53workday duties this really will fit all of those boxes. In terms of technology inside the car you can
04:59get it with two versions of the SYNC 4 infotainment system including the bigger 12-inch screen that
05:03we're going to see fitted to the new Ranger. So this is a tech powerhouse, it is a very modern
05:09vehicle and it is nothing like the Utes that we currently have on sale in Australia. How much is
05:14it going to cost? I know what you're all asking. Look I'm not going to lie this is going to be
05:17expensive even though the XLT starts in the States at around that $35,000 mark. By the time you make
05:23it a dual cab you kit it up with a few bells and whistles and you do the conversion job which
05:27they're going to have to do here in Australia tooling up for it paying off the R&D cost.
05:31It's probably going to cost close to $100,000 if not over so this is worth keeping in mind this
05:36isn't going to be like a $60,000 Ute, this will be properly expensive but when you drive one of
05:40these you'll understand why it is worth paying significantly more than what we're paying for
05:45dual cab Utes here in Australia right now. So it is an exciting time for the dual cab market in
05:50Australia. Some of you may think these are way too big for Australian roads and look that might
05:55be true for some of those inner city Sydney car parks that I struggle to get a like Ford Fiesta
05:59into but look at the end of the day people are going to buy these because they're using them for
06:03work and potentially for country driving and towing and that kind of thing. So I am excited
06:07about this we don't really know any more details outside of what we have today. We will keep you
06:12posted on the channel as more information comes to hand when we do finally get our hands on the
06:17first right-hand drive test vehicle. Now let me know what you think about this announcement. Are
06:21you as excited as I am for the F-150 coming to Australia? This will be the first time that Ford
06:26has done a factory-backed right-hand drive conversion program for the Australian market
06:32so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Ford hasn't ruled out doing the Lightning, the
06:35electric version of the F-150 or other vehicles in the Ford stable such as Bronco for the Australian
06:41market so if this does well when it is finally released in mid-2023 I think we can expect to
06:46see more of these coming to the Australian market which makes me a very happy camper. So let me know
06:51your thoughts in the comments section below. If you did enjoy this video please make sure you
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06:58press the bell icon but until next time take it easy.