Luxury Trucks

podcast Episode: 0079
why there are no luxury make pickup trucks

     Luxury and Truck really don't seem to go together well.  But in our automotive world today, it seems they do, as more and more companies have luxury options for their trucks.  This is most prominent in North America with our full size trucks.  But why are luxury makes having a hard time with this market?  We answer that and more on this podcast.

     The term luxury is not one most people associate with trucks.  But in todays automotive world, this is a growing market.  But with its growth, it still see's odd that there is a lack of true luxury marks involved.  Lincoln and Cadillac were once in this market, but have since left it.  But why and why do no other luxury marks try to enter this growing market.  For an answer to that question you have to go back in time.

     Back in the 70's we had crossover trucks.  This was a market that even in North America was strong.  But was it strong enough to handle the introduction of luxury models.  This was seen as definite NO, but Lincoln and Cadillac tried it our anyways.  They failed to catch on and soon this market was gone.

​      Fast forward to the early 2000's and you will find the rise of SUV market.  Along with this came a further interest into trucks, as quad cab models had become the norm.  Appealing to suburban consumers who were tired of their minivans.  Trucks soon became a valuable market and soon enough it caught the eye of both Lincoln and Cadillac.

     With the explosion of the truck market and a renewed interest into luxury trucks the Blackwood and Escalade EXT soon arrived.  Lincoln quickly learned that a truck with a useless box would not see to truck buyers.  The Navigator based Blackwood was soon killed off and before long the Mark LT arrived.

    By the time the financial crisis had hit, the luxury truck mark market was drying up.  Chrysler had found that luxury versions of their existing RAM platform was more profitable, as you did not have to change the image of the truck.  This soon was followed by Chevrolet, Nissan and now Toyota.  GMC had always been in this market with their Denali versions and as this market grew, so did GM's profits.

     In the end why did the luxury marks fail at the luxury truck market.  That is a question we answer in this podcast.  But if you really want to see how this market is hard on luxury marks, then check out the short lived Mercedes-Benz X-Class, which was built off of the Renault Alaskan / Nissan Navara platform.

Everett J.
​#autolooks