After a brief period of absence, the Ford F-150 Limited is gearing up for a return to a market that is increasingly favorable to luxury pickup trucks.
Ford first introduced the Limited Edition of the F-150 back in 2013, but it tabled the Limited Edition in favor of the reworked 2015 model of the F-150, up until now.
Starting at a price point of $60,000, the F-150 Limited, which goes on sale later this year, is a class up from the F-150 Platinum. Ford believes that there's still a good deal of unexplored territory in the market for luxury pickup trucks, so it is reaching up and looking for the segment's ceiling.
The 2016 "F-150 Limited meets the growing, untapped needs of luxury customers looking for exclusivity, convenience and fine craftsmanship that's differentiated from other high-series trucks," said Ford. "F-150 Limited surpasses the well-appointed Lariat, the Western-themed King Ranch and contemporary Platinum edition models"
Under the hood, the F-150 Limited has a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine and puts out 365 HP with about 420 foot pounds of torque. The F-150 Limited has a tailoring capacity of up to 10,100 pounds.
Standard features include leather, chrome, a military grade aluminum alloy body, adaptive cruise control, remote tailgate release, quad-beam LED lamps, a 360 degree camera system and massaging seats.
"The F-150 Limited sets a new bar for what discerning customers should expect in a high-end truck," said Ford's Raj Nair, group vice president for Global Product Development. "We're adding segment-exclusive technology, and features that improve productivity, convenience and capability with distinctive style."
Ford boasts that the F-150 lineup now suits every truck customer, ranging from the "work ready" trucks that start off at just over $26,000 up to the Limited Edition and its potentially $70,000 price tag, when fully kitted out with options. There's a healthy population of people who purchase pickup trucks as a status symbol and an asset for work, according to Karl Brauer, senior director of insights for Kelley Blue Book.
"You have a lot of wealthy businesspeople who have the money to buy an extremely capable and extremely luxurious truck," said Brauer. "It's not any financial stretch for these people to spend 50 or 70 grand."
