The big truck news last week was the debut of the all-new 2013 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Not to be outdone, a new report from Reuters is claiming that Ford will show a concept version of its new 2015 F-150 at the Detroit Auto Show next month. The truck war between the Detroit Big Three is fierce, so it should come as no surprise that Ford wants to keep ahead of the curve as GM releases its latest full-size trucks.

Just how competitive is this truck segment? The F-150 was last completely redesigned for 2009 and a major refresh that included the launch of new engines was unleashed in 2011. Meanwhile across town at the Pentastar, the Ram 1500 just recently won Motor Trend's Truck of the Year competition and it offers a solid base engine of its own: a 3.6-liter V6 mated to an eight-speed slushbox that returns 25 mpg highway. For comparison, the current F-150's most fuel efficient engine is a 3.7-liter V6 that returns 23 mpg highway. Official ratings for the GM twins have yet to be released. But all of this solid competition is keeping Ford on its feet.

Automotive News adds that the Blue Oval is intent on reducing the F-150's weight by some 700-750 pounds with extensive use of aluminum throughout its structure. Ford may also increase its use of small-displacement engines for the F-150, as well as utilizing Toyota-sourced hybrid technologies, but nothing has been confirmed just yet. What's for certain is that the next F-150 will also have an eight-speed automatic in order to help with those ever-relevant fuel efficiency figures.