Tag: Trucks

Rare Rides: The 1979 Renha Formigão, Rear-engine and Beetle Adjacent

Not long ago, Rare Rides featured the Gurgel XEF, a Brazilian microcar of luxurious intent that was styled like a contemporary Mercedes-Benz, and based on a Volkswagen. Today’s Rare Ride is a very different Brazilian take on the same basic bones.

Say hello to the Renha Formigão.

Renha was short for Renha Indústria e Comércio de Veículos, which in English meant Renha Industry and Commerce of Vehicles. Founded in Rio de Janeiro, the company was the creation of Paulo Sérgio Renha. Renha was a powerboat racing enthusiast and held a speed record in the Atlantic for a crossing from Santos to Rio de Janeiro.

Renha previously designed some buggies and cars for other Brazilian firms and decided to found his own car company in 1977. The firm’s original product was a trike with a Volkswagen engine. The initial iteration of the trike faced legislative hurdles, as it occupied a vehicle class not yet recognized by the Brazilian government. Renha revised the trike after its initial debut and added more power and different bodywork, and was able to get it past legalization. It was sold as a kit or a complete bike.

The next year Renha had more ambitious ideas and launched the Formigão. The very small pickup truck body was attached directly to a Volkswagen Beetle chassis. It used a 1.6-liter gas/ethanol engine. Renha created his own body but made no mechanical changes underneath.

Said body was designed in fiberglass, focused on utility, and was shaped mostly by a ruler. Renha got some headlamps from a Fiat 127 to complete the square look. The pickup bed could hold up to 1,433 pounds, and its size capacity was about 25 cubic feet.

The bed capacity was not as utilitarian as one would hope, however. Volkswagen would not supply the flat design 1.6 from its second-generation Bus to outside companies, so Renha had to make do with the Beetle’s engine in its truck. As a result, there was a pronounced rectangular elevation in the bed.

Inside, buyers found three-point seatbelts and rode along with the spare tire and battery that resided behind the seats. A luxury trim was also available which offered upgraded alloy wheels, leather seats that reclined, and a useful tachometer.

Formigão remained in production for a short while, as in 1980 Paulo Renha moved on to a newly founded company called Emis and produced his trike there. Formigão was reborn in 1986 as the Coyote, after the company obtained rights from Renha. By that time, Mr. Renha had moved back into his real passion – boats – and started a ship-building firm.

Today’s Rare Ride is a 1979 Formigão from near the conclusion of initial production. With alloy wheels, it’s most likely the upscale luxury model. From the photos, it seems the engine bump issue in the bed was fixed by a later owner, or by Renha later in production. This tiny truck is yours for $14,000.

[Images: Renha]

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Chevrolet Electric Silverado A ZERO Production

Silverado

Chevrolet’s Silverado electric pickup will be built at the Factory Zero assembly plant in Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan, along with GMC’s Hummer EV SUV which will also be produced there, General Motors president Mark Reuss said today.

Silverado

A new-from-the-ground-up EV pickup, and not adapted from the gas-powered Silverado, it will use the Ultium Platform. Ultium is General Motors’ virtual development tools and technology, said to have reduced development nearly 50 percent to 26 months.

Chevrolet estimates the new Silverado EV will have a 400-mile range on a full charge. Like its gas-powered sibling, there will be retail and fleet versions of the EV, both expected to be in demand. “Chevrolet will take everything Chevy’s loyal truck buyers love about Silverado — and more — and put it into an electric pickup that will delight retail and commercial customers alike,” said Reuss.

Factory ZERO, General Motors’ renamed Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, signifies the company’s zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion outlook for the future. ZERO is the largest renovation and retooling ever for a General Motors manufacturing plant. Its paint and body shop, along with the general assembly area, are getting upgrades including new machinery, conveyors, controls, and tooling. The plant’s footprint is now over 4.5 million square feet.

Silverado

General Motors previously hawked its modular propulsion system and Ultium battery-powered global EV platforms. The company is definitely looking to compete head-to-head for customers wherever they may exist. Ultium is a joint venture with LG in Lordstown, Ohio to produce battery cells for future battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Construction of that facility is underway.

General Motors world domination plan calls for a million EVs by 2025, and North American EV leadership. How will this work out with the power grid, President Biden’s future vision, and infrastructure improvements?

[Images: General Motors]

Ford F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid Pricing Goes Live

Ford

Ford’s build-and-price tool can now be wielded against the next-generation F-150 pickup, revealing that going hybrid will vary wildly in price, depending on where you start.

While a report last month detailed expected pricing, now it’s official. The cost of adding hybrid power to your 2021 F-150 sinks as your truck’s standard power output rises.

Not yet rated, Ford claims the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6/electric motor combo gives PowerBoost-equipped F-150s class-leading horsepower and torque. The unit’s mated to a 10-speed automatic, with the 47-horse electric motor lessening the need for the gas engine to do all the heavy lifting.

Fuel economy is still unknown.

That said, pricing is here. While the 2021 F-150’s B&P tool is still young and wonky, it does reveal that the earlier report was correct. The base price of a ’21 F-150 (XL 4×2 regular cab, 6.5-foot box) is indeed $30,365 after destination, a $190 bump from the year before, but you won’t be able to get the PowerBoost on the absolute bargain basement model. That could change with time.

For now, it seems the cheapest hybrid is the XL 4×2 regular cab with 8-foot box, stickering for $38,495. We can also see that the PowerBoost option appears on the XL SuperCrew with 6.5-foot box costing $3,300, and in the XL SuperCrew 5.5-foot box costing $4,495. The difference between the two models? Engine size. The former carries a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, the latter a 3.3-liter V6. The smaller the initial engine output, the pricier it’ll be to get into a hybrid.

Case in point: On the King Ranch, which carries a 5.0-liter V8 as standard equipment, the PowerBoost option amounts to $2,500. On the top-flight Limited trim (3.5L EcoBoost standard), it’s a mere $1,900 ask.

As the truck draws nearer to its fall production date, additional configurations should arise (right now, the B&P tool shows no hybrid availability for Lariat trim, despite Ford saying otherwise elsewhere on the site, and XLT configurations seem to still be under construction). Stay tuned.