Ford’s biggest trucks will get one of the world's biggest V8 engines starting this fall, as one aspect of the Truck Wars turns into an old-fashioned battle of engine size that's reminiscent of the muscle car era. 

Exhibit A: A 7.3L gasoline-powered V8 coming to Ford’s Super Duty pickups and commercial vehicles, from ambulances and utility bucket trucks to just a step shy of massive highway semitrucks. 

Most of the conversation about big trucks like these – they’re officially called Class 2 through Class 7 vehicles, based on the massive weights they can haul and tow –  focuses on diesel engines. But gasoline engines play a role, too, accounting for up to 40% of sales of big Class 2-4 pickups like Ford’s F-250, 350 and 450 Super Duty trucks.

“Diesels are incredibly important for those trucks, but many customers don’t need their full towing capacity,” IHS Markit senior analyst Stephanie Brinley said. “Those customers can get everything they need at a lower cost with a gasoline engine."

In addition to that, many fleet customers only keep trucks this size for three or four years, so diesel’s long-term, high-mileage durability isn’t worth those engines’ higher cost.

The new V8 produces 430 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque in Super Duty pickups, slightly less in some of Ford's other commercial trucks.

 

Tested for reliability, durability

Ford builds the V8 in Windsor, Ontario. It made and tested hundreds of preproduction  versions before it was ready to start selling the new V8. That’s expensive – every preproduction engine an automaker builds takes time, parts and money you’ll never be able to use in an engine it sells to a customer – but a sign of how important durability and reliability is to commercial truck owners. A broken truck is a crisis for a small business that can’t make deliveries, or for a hospital without an ambulance.

The 7.3L engine is an upgrade from the gasoline V8 Ford offered before, a 6.2L that produces 385 hp and 430 pound-feet of torque. The 6.2L remains the base engine in the F-250 and 350.