Despite fuel shortages and pressure from regulators regarding emissions, Ford Australia stands behind its entry into the full-size pickup segment, arguing that there is still a good market for its updated model F-150.
Asked about 2026 forecasts, John Hatzimanolis, director of customer experience and sales at Ford Australia, said he expected the category to stabilize despite the current fuel crisis and increasing pressure from the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
“We’re not necessarily protected from fuel prices and all the other issues that arise, so I’m not sure what that looks like in the short term. Long term, I think we’ll see the segment stabilizing, maybe at 0.8 or 1.0 percent (of the overall market),” Mr. Hatzimanolis said.
Last year, the large pickup truck segment accounted for 0.7 percent of the total market with 8,763 deliveries, a decline of 17.4 percent from the previous year. Only 792 of those were F-150s, with the vehicle affected by a sales freeze that resulted in a 67.4 percent drop in deliveries.
“It’s certainly a pretty robust segment from our perspective, but we believe we have a best-in-class product that deserves to lead this segment,” Mr. Hatzimanolis continued.
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In addition to external pressures such as skyrocketing fuel prices and fuel shortages, as well as increasing pressure from the Australian Federal Government to reduce carbon emissions with the NVES, the locally remanufactured Ford F-150 has been plagued by recalls and sales halts over the last year – undoubtedly raising questions about quality and consumer trust.
However, Ford Australia product communications manager Ben Nightingale told the media that the Blue Oval had achieved solid sales volumes of pre-update F-150 inventory when it went back on sale late last year, and that the updated range had been “really well received” by customers.
“This product (new F-150) is on sale, it’s in dealers – (and) it’s been really well received. We were on stop sale for a long time last year, when we stopped stock sales in November, our December sales were really, really strong,” Mr Nightingale said.
“So the demand for the product is there. People want the F-150 and then it’s just about delivering the product and our ongoing support for it. We have over 200 service locations across Australia and making sure we look after customers,” Mr Nightingale added.
Program director Iain Jones reiterated Ford’s commitment to F-150 customers, adding: “I would also say the confidence is that we stopped it – we intentionally stopped (F-150 sales and production) to protect our customers.”
“When we found out there were problems, we stopped production of this vehicle – and that’s what confidence means to me. We made the difficult decision to stop, and we spent a long time going through this truck and the overhaul process to validate everything and get it back to what our customers expect.”
“We will look after all our customers,” Mr Jones added in response to comments about customer trust in the brand before the sales halt. “We take care of every customer who has a problem with their truck.”
Last year, Ford Australia issued a delivery freeze on the reconditioned F-150 in July, which lasted until November. While Ford Australia would not provide details about what led to the delivery pause, the move came ahead of a US recall for several Ford models affecting 625,000 vehicles, including the F-150 in North America.
Ford Australia’s F-150 has been the subject of several product safety recalls locally, including a major recall in August 2025 due to defective rear wheel hub bolts that could loosen or break, potentially causing axle damage, loss of power and/or vehicles rolling when parked.
A recall was issued in July due to a possibly defective rear-view camera, and there have now been a total of nine recalls for the F-150 in Australia since sales began in early 2023.
The updated Ford F-150 is now in dealers – although it’s technically model year (MY) 2025 in Australia, the pickup is based on the MY24 range for the US market – and features improved technology, refreshed styling inside and out and a new range-topping Platinum version.
As before, all models are powered by Ford’s 298kW/678Nm ‘EcoBoost’ 3.5-litre V6 biturbo petrol engine, driving all four wheels via a 10-speed automatic transmission. All three trim levels are also available in short and long wheelbase body styles.
Stay tuned for the first Australian test report of the new Ford F-150 from Daily Sparkz on March 26th
MORE: Explore the Ford F-150 showroom
