Take a closer look at Ford's F-series pickup trucks — the best-selling vehicles in the US (F)

Ford is basically printing money with the redesigned F-Series.
The carmaker sold nearly 900,000 of these vehicles in 2017.
The F-Series has been the bestselling lineup of vehicles in the US for decades.

There's no shortage of pickup-truck choices in the US, but when most people think "pickup," one vehicle comes to mind: the Ford F-150.

The F-150 is part of Ford's F-Series, consisting also of the F-250, F-350, and F-450 Super Duty pickups; and there's a high-performance variant of the F-150, the Raptor.

The first F-Series arrived back in 1948 and was basically a work truck. Ever since the early 1980s, the F-150 hasn't just been popular — it's been America's bestselling vehicle every single year.

Now in its 13th generation, the F-Series went through major redesigns in 2015 and 2016. The F-150 went first, getting new, lightweight aluminum construction; the Super Duty followed, it's first major reworking in decades.

At Ford, there is no product that's more central to the business than the F-Series, so the redesign was a major risk. But it has paid off: Ford has an average transaction price of $45,500 on the pickups, an increase of more than $3,000 from last year.

The truck is going to bring a ridiculous amount of cash into Ford's already cash-rich coffers, especially if the US sales boom holds up in 2018

We've reviewed several F-Series trucks over the years, so here's a closer look at the king of pickups.

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We sampled the new F-150, aluminum edition, back in 2015. You can get the base XL, an old-school work truck, for under $30,000.

Here's the thing about Ford pickups: the profit margins are almost stupid. We're talking over $10,000 on average, and given that many owners choose costly trim levels and option up their trucks, the F-Series functions like a license to print money for Ford.

Read our review of the F-150.

There was some concern initially that the aluminum construction wouldn't be Ford tough, but truck owners appear to pretty satisfied.

In 2017, Ford even rolled out a "pursuit rated" police version of the F-150.

The new truck can hit 100 mph, with its turbocharged V6 serving up 375 horsepower and 470 lb.-ft. of torque – "more than any other pursuit-rated police vehicle," Ford said in a statement when the vehicle was revealed in 2017.

Check out more about the extreme truck.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider