Ford ships 2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks built in Kentucky

Ford Motor Co. announced the launch of its new F-Series Super Duty last fall in Louisville under the iconic Twin Spires at Churchill Downs. Now, eight months after announcing the vehicle which focuses on advanced capabilities and driver connectivity, the newest Super Duty truck model is heading to dealerships.

On Wednesday, Ford CEO Jim Farley joined Ford executive chair Bill Ford Jr., Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Senator Julie Raque Adams, Majority Caucus Chair R-Louisville, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Ford union employees to announce the shipment of all trim levels of the Super Duty trucks to retail and commercial customers.

“Super Duty is the Ford Motor Company,” said Ford, Jr. “You are living proof that building in America matters more now than ever.”

Later this year, the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair will launch in Louisville and the Ford Ranger will launch in Michigan.

Here's what we know about the new 2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks, headed to a dealership near you:

More: Ford CEO had full day of scripted presentations. What happened when the cameras stopped.

More: CEO Jim Farley tells industry analysts the automaker has 'been stuck in a box'

Ford Motor Co. and Kentucky, a business relationship

At the Kentucky Truck Plant, located off Chamberlain Lane in Louisville, more than 8,500 employees have been working to assemble the Super Duty trucks. Another 1,800 workers at the Ohio Assembly Plant also helped build the new trucks.

These employees are represented by the United Auto Workers Union. Ford, Jr. said the company has more UAW members than any other automaker.

"Unions built the American middle class, and they continue to ensure our workforce is the best in the world," Beshear added.

Production for the 2023 F-Series Super Duty models was supported by a $700 million investment and 500 new jobs created in Louisville by Ford last year.

"Ford is an important part of Team Kentucky. And together, we're going to be building the automobiles and trucks of the future for hundreds of years to come," Beshear said in September.

In Kentucky, which was declared 'KenTRUCKy' by Beshear last year, "Ford employs more than 12,000 people and supports nearly 120,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state and a state GDP contribution of $11.8 billion," according to a press release from Ford.

“Kentuckians have been building Ford since the Model-T,” Beshear said. "The production of the new 2023 F-Series Super Duty truck represents another investment to our future."

The truck plant in Louisville has assembled 13.3 million trucks since 1969, enough trucks to wrap around the globe twice, Farley said. Ford Motor Co. builds 100% of all its pickup trucks in America, with the majority being produced in the metro.

Ford, in partnership with SK On, will bring an additional 5,000 jobs to Kentucky in the coming years at its two Hardin County battery plants which will support EV manufacturing. Production at the battery plants is expected to begin in 2025.

Globally, Ford Motor Co. plans to invest $1 billion across manufacturing facilities for upgrades, which will include adding nursing stations, fitness centers, hot meals and EV charging stations. In Louisville, Ford has already spent more than $70 million to get tempered air inside the Kentucky Truck Plant.

A new era of quality control standards at Ford

The new 2023 Super Duty trucks feature, "increased real-world vehicle testing and additional quality checks," according to a press release sent to the Courier Journal from Ford Motor Co. The company placed an emphasis on "high mileage tests" to better meet the demands of a Super Duty driver.

"We fixed dozens of quality issues," Farley said. "We haven’t always done that as a company."

The importance of quality products has recently been stressed by Ford. In June 2022, Ford recalled 2.9 million vehicles, including roughly 1.7 million 2013-2019 Escape models, due to an issue with the vehicle being unable to shift into the correct gear, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Farley, Ford's CEO, revealed that warranty costs related to vehicle recalls reached $5 billion in 2019 and vehicle launch problems have cost the company roughly $1 billion, according to reporting from the Detroit Free Press.

"Our top priority in the company outside to safety for our team is quality, we have to get back to the best-in-class quality in the world," Farley said.

In an effort to avoid vehicle recalls and warranty claims, Ford has introduced 350 quality inspectors who are charged with viewing the vehicle and testing every feature once it rolls off the assembly line. Additionally, Ford has invested in an "on-board scale," which is a quality control robot tool used on F-150 and Super Duty models to determine maximum load weight. The company took 27,000 Super Duty trucks for drive testing.

"The Super Duty launch, we approached totally different, we drove millions of miles ... we did a lot of extra testing on the vehicle and we're not seeing the quality deterioration at launch that we normally do," said Farley. "This was the best launch we've ever had globally, so it's starting to pay off."

Ford adopted a new "Zero-Defect Launch Process" which is supposed to increase the number of quality control checks on the trucks during the assembly process. After a vehicle rolled off the assembly line, a Ford employee drove each truck 25 miles for an additional quality check.

Earlier this year, Ford closed the Louisville Assembly Plant for at least three weeks, where the Escape model vehicles are made in an effort to enhance quality control. Farley said the new method for quality control being utilized at the truck plant will become the "benchmark in the company for how to launch with quality."

Jim Baumbick, Ford vice president of product development operations and quality, said in order to improve quality control, in some cases, Ford had the infrastructure to test vehicles and "enhanced the process." But in other cases, Ford acquired new tools such as 40 cameras and a few robots to meet the company's new standard.

Ford is on track to add up to 100 cameras at the Kentucky Truck Plant that help assembly workers video, analyze and collect real-time data on the quality of each vehicle.

Explore the 2023 F-Series Super Duty truck features

The 2023 F-Series Super Duty truck models sport numerous new technological features aimed at helping drivers and workers "do their jobs," said Ted Cannis, Ford Pro CEO.

“Whether it is mining, emergency response, utility services, or towing a boat, Super Duty is the tool that gets the job done, and we know our customers are thrilled that it is coming," he said in the release.

Baumbick said the demand for the Super Duty is "very high," adding "we're trying to keep up with demand and in fact, looking for ways to increase capacity, just to meet the demand."

Here is a list of new features in the 2023 F-Series Super Duty:

• Standard 6.8-liter V8 gas engine

• Embedded 5G capability

• Ford Pro Uplift Intergration System

• Tremor Off-Road Package

• Interior upgrades

• Pro Power Onboard which turns the truck into a mobile generator

• Power outlets inside the truck, through the cargo box or mounted on chassis cab

• 10-speed TorqShift automatic transmission

• Power take off connection to run added equipment for the chassis cab models

• Standard four-wheel drive on all models XLT or above

• Onboard scales with smart hitch that estimate cargo weight

• 360-degree trailer camera system

• Blind spot information system for fifth wheel and gooseneck which can be attached to a trailer to add more visual aide for the driver

• Tailgate down camera and tailgate down reverse sensing system to alert drivers when the tailgate is down to make hooking up to a trailer easier

• Pro Trailer Hitch Assist which will automatically back the Super Duty up and align it with the trailer

• Adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go and lane centering technology

• Trailer theft alert will provide alerts to the FordPass app if a trailer is tampered with while the truck is locked

• Forward and reverse sensing system which will show drivers of objects immediately in front or behind the vehicle

• Front and rear brake assist which will allow drivers to prevent low-speed collisions

• Full-color head-up display which will encourage drivers to keep their eyes on the road by putting information in a drivers line of sight

• Customizable 12-inch digital instrument cluster

• Center console slot that can hold a tablet upright

Contact reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @oliviamevans_

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: New Ford 2023 F-Series Super Duty truck models ship to customers