The Best-Selling Luxury Cars Are Now Pickup Trucks
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Starting at around $50,000, the posh and powerful Ford F-150 King Ranch Edition isn’t even the most expensive standard-duty pickup in the automaker’s lineup these days. (Source: Ford)
Forget what you may believe about the European automakers’ dominance in the luxury vehicle market. The domestic makes have quietly – okay, brashly – elbowed their way into the top tier of the business via what, a few years ago, would have been considered the most unlikely manner – expensive pickup trucks.
With the economy healthy and gas prices dipping below the $2.00 per gallon mark, opulently equipped pickup trucks were without question the shining stars of the auto business over the last year. Of the top 10 selling vehicles in the U.S. having out-the-door transaction prices greater than $50,000, five are full-size trucks according to TrueCar.com.
As one might imagine, these otherwise workman-like trucks are dressed to the nines with rich hand-stitched leather interiors, a staggeringly long list of amenities, and more chrome trim than a mid-1960’s Cadillac sedan. They’re usually configured as four-door “crew cab” models, which are built like full size sport-utility vehicles with a moderately sized pickup bed situated behind the rear seats instead of a closed cargo hold. They can seat five adults in complete comfort with limo-like legroom and enough headroom to accommodate a 10-gallon hat while still being able to tow a large boat or trailer or haul a serious payload.
An oddly ideal combination of brawn and beauty, they’re purposeful work trucks that are able to crawl their way through barren construction sites with a full load during the week, yet unashamedly transport its occupants to a five-star restaurant on Saturday night. They’re also popular among active affluent motorists for towing boats and trailers, and the ability to haul dirt bikes, horse tack, and other sports equipment without mucking up the inside of an expensive SUV.
Though their ride and handling qualities have come a long way in recent years, be aware that luxury pickups can still be a handful to drive, with tall step-in heights, outward visibility issues, gigantic turning radii, and a certain bounciness over bumps that can induce sea sickness among the weak-stomached. Parallel parking in crowded urban areas can be challenging if not perilous.
The leader among upscale trucks is, not surprisingly, the most-popular vehicle of any kind, the Ford F-150 pickup, with total 2015 U.S. sales of 780,354 units, of which around 50 percent are said to be its costliest Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum trim levels. Do the math, and Ford’s pricey pickups handily outpace the top luxury vehicles in the U.S., including the Lexus RX crossover, which sold 100,610 units last year, and the BMW 3 Series at 94,527 units. The top Ford pickups also surpass the entire full-line sales volumes of luxury brands like Cadillac (175,267) and Infiniti (113,498). In Texas, where full-size trucks rule the road, one in four luxury vehicles sold is reportedly a high-end Ford pickup.
The average price of a pickup truck in the U.S. has risen higher and faster than any other automotive segment over the last decade, skyrocketing by 41% between 2004 and 2014 according to Edmunds.com. That’s considerably higher than both luxury cars at 18.8% and luxury SUVs at 16.4% (industry average was 17.5% over the same period).
Over the past year, full-size pickup transaction prices jumped by 3.1 percent, from an average $44,014 at the end of 2014 to a current $45,388 according to Kelley Blue Book. And heavy-duty pickup truck prices are likewise reaching new plateaus – half of all GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups are sold in the truck maker’s top Denali trim level, which for HD versions start at around $56,000.
For those keeping score, the average luxury car currently sells for just over $55,000, according to KBB.
Not to be outdone, the Asian also-rans in this segment have likewise entered the luxury pickup game with their own elegantly outfitted trucks. The top model in Toyota’s Tundra full-size truck line is the 1794 CrewMax 4X4, which retails for $50,275 (including a $1,195 delivery charge). Nissan recently introduced the first models in a new generation of its Titan full-size pickup, beginning exclusively with the line’s costliest models, the diesel-powered XD SL, PRO-4X, and Platinum Reserve Crew Cab models that range in sticker prices from $52,165 to a whopping $61,715 (again including a $1,195 delivery charge). The rest of the Titan line is expected to reach dealer showrooms later this year.
In Pictures: 10 Luxury Pickup Trucks Priced Over $50,000.
Ironically, there are currently no bona fide luxury brands participating in the full-size truck market. Lincoln took a stab at it a few years ago with its posh Blackwood model, but failed miserably, and Cadillac recently stopped producing its low volume Cadillac Escalade EXT pickup/SUV mashup with the line’s recent redesign.
We’ve compiled a slideshow of the costliest pickup trucks for sale in the U.S., with each featuring a sticker price at or over $50,000.
Keep in mind that’s just their starting prices. Adding a few accessories and perhaps an optional trim package can drive the cost up even higher. For example, a Ford F-150 Limited SuperCrew 4X4 with every available accessory carries a sticker price of $68,250, including delivery. Heavy-duty luxury pickups can be even costlier. We checked off as many boxes as possible on a GMC Sierra 3500 Denali 4X4 Crew Cab and its MSRP easily cracked the $74,000 mark.
And that, my friends, is for a pickup truck.
