Chevrolet and Ford have been battling it out for every imaginable segment, product, and feature. The state of the automotive industry in 2016 is no different, and the fight between two brands of the Detroit Big Three is still on, without a definitive winner in sight. It is like Pepsi versus Coca-Cola - they keep fighting, but there is never a loser and a victor.
This time, we are writing about a video that Chevrolet posted on its website, in which it compares the steel bed of the Silverado to the aluminum bed of the equivalent Ford pick-up truck, the F-150. Both vehicles are 2016 model year pickup trucks, and both are brand new.
Chevrolet claims not to have hired actors for this video, and the people shown in the ad are expected to be regular consumers.
We cannot verify this, but it is not the first time when a brand does a commercial without professional or even amateur actors, preferring genuine customers to showcase their products alongside.
At this point, you might be wondering why all the fuss is all about, especially if you are not into trucks. The situation is easy - Ford’s 2016 F-150 has a body and chassis made entirely from aluminum, including its bed, while Chevrolet and its competitors use steel.
The Bowtie brand is not the first to send flak towards Ford on its use of aluminum, but the Blue Oval claims it has tested this material in all possible scenarios, and it has outperformed steel.
Ford’s competitors at Chevrolet think that their product is superior. The bed of the 2016 Chevy Silverado is roll-formed, high-strength steel, and they’ve put it against Ford’s F-150 with an all-aluminum bed. If you look at their video, you might think that Chevrolet has a point here, and Ford is crazy to sell aluminum-only pick-up truck beds.
Hint - Ford is not crazy on this one, because both trucks have had their bed liners removed for this demonstration. A bed liner is a special protective coating to prevent the damage of a truck bed, so be skeptical before reaching a conclusion after viewing the video below.
At the end of the day, Chevrolet recognized that “any material can be pushed to the breaking point if you subject it to enough impact energy.” However, they reminded customers that aluminum components might be more difficult or expensive to repair than their steel counterparts. On the other hand, Ford said in previous commercials that the difference is smaller that you might imagine.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News