Back in the day, there was no such thing as a luxury pickup truck. A pickup was bare-bones transportation that allowed work to get done. It used rubber mats instead of carpeting. An old-school pickup had wind-up windows and a painted dashboard.
And if the owner was really fancy, there was an AM radio.
A Cadillac Luxury Pickup Truck?
The 2009 Escalade pickup (also shown above) has a luxury cabin. The truck bed can also haul stuff.
But now trucks can be very fancy. The trend could be dated to the 2010s when Cadillac developed a pickup version of its bling-laden Escalade - opens in new window or tab..
The beginning of the modern luxury truck era was Cadillac’s foray into the genre with the 5,900-pound 2002 EXT. It might have seemed like the answer to a question no one was asking. But the company’s brand manager said at the time:
Cadillac research showed that there was a real need for the EXT.
Sure, the EXT was a functional truck. Still, over the years, it came with amenities usually associated with high-end cars—navigation, back-up cameras, front and rear DVD players, and memory-enabled heated leather seats. They were also offered with something unimaginable to a 1940s truck buyer: an automatic transmission.
It was also really, really big. According to Car and Driver in 2002:
It’s as long as a 1977 Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance with Florentine velour cloth and a Tuxedo Grain vinyl roof.
Luxury pickup trucks make sense from a business perspective. They offer some of the biggest profit margins in the industry.
Selling them required turning a pickup into a lifestyle statement. These vehicles revealed how buyers could be hardworking and prosperous at the same time.
High-End Chevy Silverado Pickups
Today, luxury is almost expected. Ready to pony up $54,595 for the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado in High Country trim? It will allow your haulin’ to be commanded from a cabin equipped with a Bose stereo, heated and ventilated seats (including in the rear), front and rear parking sensors, and blind-spot monitoring.
eBay has a vast range of high-end Silverados - opens in new window or tab., with evocative special edition names like Trail Boss, Black Widow, Rally, High Desert, and Texas. And parts - opens in new window or tab. too, of course.
Fancy Ford Luxury Pickup Trucks
A 2020 Ford F-150 Raptor with 3.5-liter V-6 power and all-wheel drive.
An even fancier luxury pickup truck is the Ford F-150 Limited, currently selling for $69,080. It has adaptive steering and ambient lighting. In the 1950s, this was a dome light. If you twisted the pull-out light switch, it came on.
Through a miracle of modern technology (at the time), the cabin light also came on if you opened the doors. The downside was a door not fully closed would end up draining the battery.
You can add outrageous performance to the list of a pickup’s luxury items. The 2020 F-150 SuperCrew 4X4 Shelby Supercharged, with an MSRP of $110,625, packs 755 horsepower under the hood. Or maybe the twin-turbo Raptor Black Ops edition is more your style. The options include leather, a panoramic sunroof, and remote start.
The F-150 has been the bestselling vehicle in America since 1981. eBay has many pages of F-150s - opens in new window or tab. and parts - opens in new window or tab..
Limited-Edition Ram Pickups
The luxury, high-tech cabin of the Ram Night Edition includes a 12-inch touchscreen.
Not to be outdone, Fiat-Chrysler has multiple special editions of its bestselling 2021 Ram - opens in new window or tab. Limited and Longhorn trucks. The list includes:
- The Night Edition (blacked-out trim and a 12-inch touchscreen)
- Built to Serve (with a patriotic theme)
- Launch Edition (which sold out quickly)
The Ram 1500 won the Cars.com Luxury Car of the Year award in 2020. The judges praised “their stunning interiors with premium wood, leather, metal and chrome finishes, an awe-inspiring multimedia system and outstanding ride quality.”
eBay has the Ram 1500 you want - opens in new window or tab.. And you’ll want Ram parts - opens in new window or tab..
Luxury Pickup Trucks of Old, And the Future
The 1957 Ford Ranchero started a trend that’s with us to this day.
Does your taste run to car-like trucks of an earlier era? eBay has three pages of Chevrolet El Caminos - opens in new window or tab. and even more Ford Rancheros - opens in new window or tab.. Do you prefer Fords? Many body parts are unique to these car-trucks, so you’ll need Ranchero parts - opens in new window or tab. and El Camino bits - opens in new window or tab..
Luxury pickup trucks will also soon plug in. Electric pickups are coming from Rivian and General Motors. The $75,000 2021 Rivian R1T will have between 250 and 400 miles of cruising range. Those two electric pickups will be joined by the futuristic, stainless steel Tesla Cybertruck and the GMC Hummer EV, which starts at $79,995.
If you have doubts about whether or not truck fans will accept all-electric luxury pickup trucks, consider this: The Hummer EV is still more than a year away, but eBay already sells posters and clocks - opens in new window or tab. for its fans.
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