Brian Bell knows a thing or two about the new 2014 Ford Ford F-150 Tremor. Bell is the Ford F-150 Product Marketing Manager. He’s in charge of making sure that the Ford F-150 remains the most popular vehicle in the United States and that means selling a lot of F-150 pickups in all different flavors. The Tremor is aimed to appeal to the street truck crowd and the currently underserved sport truck segment. Recently TFLTruck spent some time with Bell and had an opportunity to get to know the truck and the man responsible for selling it to you a little better.
What was the goal of the F-150 Tremor project?
Ford saw a gap in the current light duty truck market. There is a lack of products in the street sport truck segment. The goal of the F-150 Tremor was to fill this void and give customers an option of a sporty street truck.
Was there talk of making the next F-150 Lightning?
The Tremor project was never meant to create the next Lightning. Ford SVT team has been focused on the very successful F-150 Raptor and we could not redirect them towards the next street performance truck at this time. The Tremor is a combination of existing parts from the F-150 line, which was carefully selected to make a sporty truck. It is also a combination not yet available in the current F-150. You have the regular cab, 6.5 ft bed platform combined with the powerful Ecoboost engine and 4.10 rear axle gear ratio and electronic locker. Inside you have a luxurious interior with bucket seats and floor mounted shifter for the 6-speed automatic transmission.
Did you consider a manual transmission for the F-150 Tremor?
The current F-150 line does not offer a manual transmission, so it was never an option for this project. Last F-150 with a manual transmission was back in 2008, and the take rate for it was low.
When will the Tremor be available? Pricing? Options?
The order bank for the 2014 Tremor is now open. It will be available this fall, likely near the end of October 2013. The pricing will start at around $38,000 for the 2WD model with everything you see as standard. The only options are: 4WD, tailgate step, and the trailer brake controller.
How quick is the 2014 Tremor?
We could not yet officially test the truck for 0-60 MPH times. There are only two of them so far and they are busy traveling around for shows and to pace races. We estimate the time to be close to 6.5 seconds 0-60 MPH.
Which is quicker a 4WD or a 2WD?
This is a great question. The 2WD model has less weight, but the 4WD provides better traction. We do not have an official answer yet.
Can the Tremor still do work?
Absolutely. It has the same payload and towing capacities as any regular cab. And you can get the integrated trailer brake controller for confident towing.
What is the take rate of the trailer brake controller in general?
It is very high, but I do not have an exact number. It’s more than 50%.
Towing ratings are getting higher all the time, you need the trailer brake controller for heavy loads.
Yes, we at Ford are looking to provide the customer with the highest level of confidence, that their F-150 is capable of towing. Even if they are towing 5,000 or 6,000 lbs, the customer should know that there is a lot of capability left in the truck.
Check out this TFLtruck insider video of the introduction of the 2014 Ford F-150 Tremor:
Andre Smirnov is a life-long automotive enthusiast, writer, reporter, and software engineer. He has been a contributor at TFLcar since 2011. When not working or spending time with the family – you can find him tinkering in the garage or simply ‘going for a drive’.
