Ford, GM, Chrysler cash in on posh pickups

With luxury vehicles proving to be the hot, profitable part of the auto market, it would seem German or Japanese brands would be taking the lion's shares of sales. But actually, Detroit is cashing in -- and not necessarily because of brands like Lincoln and Cadillac.

Rather, it's because of high-end pickup truck and SUVs. The "luxe truck" phenomenon, dressed-up pickups and SUVs, account for for most U.S. vehicle sales over $50,000, an analysis by online auto-buying service TrueCar shows.

Those trucks make up six of the 10 best-selling vehicles at that price level. It's a boon automakers, adding more profit to vehicles that are already cheaper to build than cars.

The biggest beneficiary: Ford. TrueCar says it is on track to sell 189,776 F-Series pickups this year at transaction prices over $50,000, more than sales of BMW's 3, 5 and 7 Series. Or, to put it another way, it's higher than the combined sales of Audi in the U.S. this year.

Ford sells deluxe pickups with names like King Ranch, Lariat and Platinum. While only one, the Platinum, has a list price above $50,000, buyers can load them up with so many extras that it isn't hard to hit the high price. While Ford has pushed high-end trucks most aggressively, General Motors and Chrysler's Ram have also discovered the luxe-truck possibilities. Even Toyota got in on the act with its 1792 edition of the Tundra.

"Conventional wisdom says German premium brands would dominate the list of top-selling vehicles over $50,000," says John Krafcik, president of TrueCar, in a statement. "The reality is that this price segment of the market is dominated by American pickups and SUVs sold through non-premium brand dealers."

Clearly trucks are back. Sales of the haulers took a hit during the recession due to the slowdown in construction and a move back to their traditional working roots after having become viewed as family vehicles. But with gas prices falling and incomes rising, sales of the top-end trucks has automakers rolling out more luxe-truck editions.

TrueCar says 8.1% of total industry volume this year will be cars and trucks selling at more than $50,000. That's up from 6.6% last year. About a third of Ford's pickup truck revenue will come from trucks selling at the top end of the market, amounting to $10.8 billion.