Technology on display at Detroit’s 2018 North American International Auto Show

Three cheers for steel parts

It appears Ford’s use of an aluminum body on its F100 pickups has ruffled a few feathers in other parts of the auto industry. Chevy’s exhibit was directly across from Ford’s and included a display featuring the same dissing of aluminum vs steel pickup beds made in Chevy TV commercials. In the same vein, the Steel Market Development Institute presented its Industry Innovator Award to FCA’s Jack Dolan partly for his work on the 2019 Dodge Ram truck. The SMDI presenter was careful to call the vehicle the “high-strength steel” Ram pickup. Also at the SMDI booth was this Chevy Bolt EV unibody with color coding that called out the various grades of steel it uses.
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