DALLAS — Ford's latest luxury vehicle has hand-finished wood trim, supple custom leather upholstery and nearly all the accouterments one would expect of a vehicle that can bump into six figures when the majority of options boxes are checked and sales tax is added.
But unlike most other $100,000 luxury vehicles, this one can haul 15 tons.
Ford's F-450 Limited, introduced last week at a media preview at the State Fair of Texas, is the most expensive luxury pickup yet from a major automaker.
The huge bruiser — too long to fit inside most home garages — is part of a growing class of ultraluxury, ultraexpensive and ultrahardworking pickups that are testing the upper limits of price.
And even though the F-450's out-the-door price can top $100,000, Ford's marketers say they don't yet know where the real ceiling is on how much consumers will pay for a maxed-out heavy-duty pickup outfitted like a Bentley, but with a powertrain that can haul 30,000 pounds. Neither do marketing executives at General Motors and Fiat Chrysler's Ram brand.