Indianapolis, Indiana – As it starts building and marketing its new line of work trucks this summer, Ford plans to appeal to vocational nostalgia, invoking the iconic trucking name – Tonka.
Unveiled at the NTEA Work Truck Show, the F-750 Tonka is a bright yellow, 10-foot tall work truck that, if shrunk at about a 20-to-1 scale, would look at home in sand boxes and mud pits, being pushed around by six-year-old boys.
“From Generation Z to the Greatest Generation, Ford and Tonka continue to set the standards for tough trucks,” says John Ruppert, general manager, Ford Commercial Vehicle Sales and Marketing. “People of all ages have been counting on Ford F-Series and Tonka trucks to get the job done – from construction site to sandbox – for more than 60 years.”
It’s not the first time that Ford has tapped into the Tonka name to promote trucks. In 2002, the automaker brought bright yellow Tonka-themed F-350 pickups to auto shows to offer hints at what eventually became the 2004 F-Series Super Duty truck lineup.
Ford officials say that as they get back into medium duty truck production with the F-650 and F-750, they will be touring the country, talking to vocational truck users about the advantages of its trucks. The Tonka display unit will be a part of that national tour.
Ford had been producing medium duty trucks in Mexico via a joint venture with International. That relationship fell apart in the wake of disputes over quality problems with an earlier generation of the Powerstroke Diesel engine used in Super Duty trucks. Ford brought diesel production in house following that fight, and it cancelled its production joint venture as soon as it could.
When they launch this summer, the new medium duty trucks will come out of Ford’s Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, Ohio. That facility has made E-Series vans, but the automaker is phasing out the bulk of that van line in favor of the more fuel-efficient Transit van, made in Kansas City, Missouri.
Source: Ford Motor Co.