Chismillionaire Detroit Auto Show Report- Ford F150

What's special about it?
It's not too much of a stretch to say that the introduction of the 2009 Ford F-150 pickup is the only introduction at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show that really matters.

For exactly 1 billion years, the F-150 has been the biggest-selling vehicle in these here United States. This remains the case despite improvements to the Ford's most potent competitors from Dodge and GM, not to mention the concerted efforts of Nissan and Toyota.

If it's any indication of how competitive the truck market has become, consider that it's been only five years since the F-150 was last completely redesigned. It used to be that a pickup — the symbol of utilitarian consistency — could go a decade without a complete overhaul. Now the pickup product cycle is essentially identical to that of the midsize sedan.

For the new F-150, Ford has decided that pickups should be ever more brutish-looking. The result is a nearly flat monolithic face that towers above all who dare approach it. Specifically, Ford stole a page from its own design book for pickup trucks and plastered a version of the company's cartoonishly humongous Super Duty grille across the F-150. The grille is flanked by headlights that recall the Ford Edge. Consider the tall, nearly flat body sides, outside mirrors that are supposed to look like they're mounted on two fat struts and a tall cargo-box side; no one is likely to call the new truck wimpy.