DETROIT - The vision for Ford’s truck team was clear: Redesign America’s favorite truck inside and out to give customers unrivaled capability, unprecedented choice and a host of smart, game-changing features.

The result is the new 2009 Ford F-150, the new benchmark in the full-size pickup segment from the industry’s truck leader – which has built more than 33 million F-Series pickups since 1948. The Ford truck team adopted a holistic, 360-degree approach to revamping the new 2009 F-150 – from its segment-first features to the tough new exterior highlighted by a dramatic three-bar grille and more spacious, flexible and refined interior, to the unparalleled choice of cab styles and trim levels – including a new Platinum series that redefines truck luxury.

The improvements are just as dramatic beneath the sheet metal. A new high-strength, lighter-weight chassis is the backbone that allows this tough truck to deliver more horsepower, better fuel economy and safety, and additional towing and payload capacity.

“The Ford F-150 is an American icon,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “Ford is the truck leader, and F-150 customers expect and demand the best truck on the market. “Our team not only met those expectations, they exceeded them with the new 2009 F-150,” Fields added. “With Ford’s product-led transformation in full swing, the new F-150 could not have come at a better time – for Ford and for our customers.”

In all, more than 1,000 Ford engineers, designers, researchers and others worked together to develop the new 2009 F-150. The team drew inspiration by listening to Ford’s large customer base.

“Before we started working on the new truck, we continued the conversation with people who use these trucks every day for work and play,” said Matt O’Leary, chief engineer of the 2009 F-150. “We went to their ranches, their job sites and their homes, making sure we crafted features that would improve their ownership experiences and, really, their lives.”

The results will be clear to customers when the new 2009 F-150 rolls off assembly lines at Ford’s Dearborn (Mich.) Truck Plant and Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Mo. – and as the new F-150 goes on sale in dealer showrooms this fall.