Here come the $100,000 pickup trucks
There’s no end to how high truck sticker prices could swell to meet the demands of luxury truck buyers
Full-size pickups are already the most profitable models in the auto industry. Apparently the sky is the limit when it comes to pricing.
Ford recently pulled the wraps off its 2018 line of Super Duty pickup trucks, which included a new top F-450 Limited model with an $87,100 sticker price that, with all the boxes checked on the options list, tops out at $94,455.
What kind of truck does one get for the price of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class? For starters, it packs a turbocharged 6.7-liter Power Stroke turbodiesel V8 engine with 925 pound-feet of torque and is capable of towing 30,000 pounds. Inside, it’s fitted with custom Camelback two-tone leather seats, a premium stitched leatherwrapped steering wheel, armrests and instrument panel, a Miko suede headliner, hand-finished, dark ash wood trim, and an extensive list of amenities.
Chevrolet likewise announced it would be folding its own medium-duty class 4 and 5 trucks under the Silverado brand, and will no doubt be taking them farther up-market moving forward. It will be a race to see which will become the first brand to actually break the exalted $100K barrier.
As it stands, reports suggest at least half of all full-size pickup trucks built are now sold as luxury-oriented models fitted with rich leather interiors and a full slate of upscale amenities that start at “just” $50,000-to-$60,000 for half-ton models.
They’re brash and uniquely American alternatives to finetuned European luxury SUVs, the costliest of which costs upwards of $250,000. The kicker here is, that despite their luxurious interiors and top-shelf accommodations, upscale pickup trucks remain eminently rugged vehicles that are able to crawl their way through barren construction sites and haul copious amounts of concrete.
They’re also popular choices for recreational purposes, like towing boats and trailers, or transporting dirt bikes and sports equipment in a truck bed that can easily be hosed off, rather than the carpeted cargo hold of an expensive SUV. And they can be used to transport their owners in high style to the finest restaurants on the weekend without skipping a beat.
Ford sells the F-150 in upscale King Ranch, Limited, and Platinum trim levels, while Chevrolet offers the Silverado 1500 in High Country trim, the Sierra 1500 comes in top-priced Denali versions, and the Ram 1500 is available in Laramie Longhorn, Laramie Limited, and Laramie Tungsten models. On the import side, Toyota sells the full-size Tundra in sumptuous 1794 and Platinum editions, while Nissan offers the Titan in fully loaded Platinum Reserve models.
More recently, automakers began applying the same treatment to their heavy-duty truck lines that combine luxury-car accommodations with super-vehicular capabilities, and at prices that boggle the mind. This is the niche that will first officially break the $100K barrier, and at this point we’re a few addons away from the six-figure pickup truck coming to pass.
The one thing we probably won’t see in the U.S., at least in the near term, is bona fide luxury-branded full-size pickups. Lincoln tried, and failed miserably a few years ago with the ill-fated Blackwood, and Cadillac found few takers for
the now-defunct EXT pickup/SUV mashup of its big Escalade SUV. Mercedes-Benz recently made a big splash when it took the wraps off its new luxury-minded X-Class pickup truck, though it’s not intended for the U.S. market.
That’s because the full-size pickup market is the only automotive segment in which the domestic brands not only possess the most brand cachet, but the ability to command sky-high prices for what is otherwise the most utilitarian of all vehicles.