2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty Sheds 350 Lbs. With A New Aluminum Body

Heavy-duty pickups live in a weird niche in the United States. Yes, they’re mostly for hard work or towing sizable loads, often sold without beds for commercial box haulers. But they’re also increasingly luxury rides, with options like rear-seat DVD players, heated/cooled seats and prices that can crack $60,000.

Nothing illustrates the range of those trucks better than the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty, which follows the F-150′s trail into swapping its steel body for a lighter aluminum skin—but puts much of that savings back into an even-tougher chassis.

Much like the F-150, the new Super Duty trucks grow bolder each year; the new face looks like a freight train that blew through a disco thanks to the long section of LED headlamps. The aluminum body saves 350 lbs.—less than the switch made on the F-150 trucks, which Ford says was due to the choice of bulking up other components, from the steel frame to the rear axles.