The following information is gleaned from the Internet's biggest helper: hearsay and rumor.
In case you didn't know, the Ford F-150 is the world's bestselling vehicle. Ford recently wanted to improve the fuel economy on consumer-recreational models by building a smaller version, called the F-100, using lightweight materials and a new twin-turbocharged V-6 engine engineered to be have the power of a V-8 with the fuel efficiency of a V-6 engine. There would also be a twin-turbo four-cylinder engine for similar reasons.
Now, understand here that the proposed design would be about the same size as a nineties-era F-150. That's still huge. Several executives, however, wanted it to have the same towing capacities as the old F-150s as well, even though the new design would be intended to be a fuel-efficient car alternative rather than a [censored] hauler. There would still be the full-size F-150 for people who needed it.
Engineers said the truck could have a tow capacity of 6000 lbs. Execs wanted them to amp it up to 11, to 7500 lbs. Engineers couldn't do it without sacrificing fuel-efficiency, so the whole project was scrapped.
http://www.motortrend.com/features/auto ... specs.html
As an aside: Is it so much to ask for the U.S. market to get a reasonably-sized pickup vehicle? The F-150 is so big that it's almost impossible to park at this point, the Ranger is almost too small, and the Tacoma and Frontier get the same mileage as some full-size trucks.
P.S. Am I the only one who thinks that these forums need an Automotive Board? This is really a rant, so I thought it should be in Ranting. But it's got some automotive tech stuff, too, so should it be in Tech? I dunno.
or it could be a missfire problem...i would guess number 1 since that is what our Kia does.
