Ford and Chevy are two of the most iconic brands of American cars. Both are popular brands too, as Ford and Chevy’s trucks are some of the best selling cars in America. But, with that success, comes a rivalry between the two brands. The rivalry extends all the way to the people who drive each brand. Let’s look at the history of this bad blood.

Ford and Chevy drivers have team loyalty

Unlike other rivalries where both teams are full ride-or-die members, the rivalry between Ford and Chevy is typically a more civil one. Like SuperChevy said, as far as anyone knows, no-one’s died from this rivalry yet. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a rivalry to begin with. It also doesn’t mean that this rivalry can’t get intense sometimes. 

For example, NASCAR has been an American racing organization for a long time, and for much of its history, the cars of NASCAR were from American brands like Ford and Chevy.

But when the Japanese automaker Toyota joined NASCAR, fans weren’t very warm to Toyota. There’s a lot of reasons why that may be, and the quality of the Toyotas likely isn’t it, seeing as Toyota’s Tundras have won the most championships in NASCAR’s truck races.

Why fans weren’t warm to Toyota can likely be boiled down to loyalty to one’s team. That type of thinking is probably the same reason why Ford and Chevy drivers poke fun of each other so often. They’re loyal to their truck’s maker, and they’re competitive against the other team’s automaker. 

The Ford vs Chevy war in action

An example of this civil disagreement between the two teams happened in early 2019. A Ford dealership put up a billboard in a rural town in South Carolina making fun of Chevy trucks.

A nearby Chevy dealership saw that billboard and put up a billboard of its own in response. Local residents of that town snapped pictures of this duel and posted it on social media. 

These pictures started a meme war between Team Ford and Team Chevy on social media, according to Mel Magazine. It was all good fun and both teams threw some good punches. However, despite this light-hearted banter between the two teams, this rivalry has had more intense moments as well.

Mel Magazine reported about an incident in Virginia where a man got into an argument with his girlfriend’s son over which brand was superior. This argument led to the man shooting and injuring multiple people at the home. Fortunately, no-one died from that incident, but it does show that this rivalry can get intense sometimes. 

Is one truck truly better?

There probably isn’t a definitive answer, as both brands continue to be successful. However, that’s not to say that Ford isn’t better than Chevy at times and vice versa. For example, the latest Chevy Silverado, according to MotorTrend, is either as good as, or better than the latest Ford F-150. 

But with that said, Ford, like Mel Magazine mentioned, tends to be more forward-thinking than Chevy is. Ford tends to innovate more often and that’s especially true when Ford introduced some very fuel-efficient diesel engines on its trucks. Those highly efficient engines allowed the F-150 to become a very practical and economical truck.

Unsurprisingly, other automakers soon followed Ford’s footsteps, and Chevy was one of them. Chevy has since introduced similarly economical diesel engines on its trucks, and those trucks will get a similar fuel economy that Ford’s do. 

This is the same story for the future of trucks as well. Ford’s already looking ahead and it’s teased its electric F-150. Chevy is following suit and electrifying its trucks as well.

That doesn’t mean it’s a total wash, however. Chevy’s trucks have some perks that Ford’s doesn’t. For example, the Silverado has a fancier tailgate than the F-150 does. This type of comparison can go on and on, but at the end of the day, it’s up to the consumer to choose.