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When you say pickup, the first thing that comes to mind is the F-Series. Actually, that’s the reason why it’s called the bread and butter vehicle of the Dearborn automaker.

But the automaker is should not be feeling overly confident about that fact because powerful rivals in the pickup segment are set forth by competitors.

While Ford at the Detroit Auto Show unveiled its 2009 F-150, Chrysler flaunted its Dodge Ram 2009 version. Each pickup was engineered after extensive research to remedy problems encountered in the past. This is an effort to make them more efficient and striking.

This year also will be tough for pickups, said Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting firm IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids. "We don’t really foresee a bottom in home construction until very late this year, and even when we get to a bottom, we’re not going to see a slingshot back up," he added. "We could see a modest uptick in 2009, but nothing that’s going to re-ignite the pickup segment."

"The only remedy to any of that is good product," said Ralph Gilles, Chrysler’s chief designer on the Ram. "You’re still going to sell an amount of trucks in the marketplace, so hopefully you can take sales away from somebody else. That’s the objective, right?"

"It’s daunting to have the best-selling vehicle in your company to work on, but at the same time it’s invigorating. It’s what you live for as a designer," Gilles added.

At Ford, where the F-series has been the best-selling truck in the U.S. for 31 years, President of the Americas Mark Fields briefly paused work on it two years ago to make sure it would stay ahead of the competition, reported Chicago Sun-Times. "When you’re the leader, you’ve got a big target on your back and there’s a big responsibility for that because everybody’s gunning for you," said Fields.

Ford considered around 200 designs for the new F-150 badge, according to Patrick Schiavone, the designer who led the F-150 redesign. Schiavone said he wanted to dispel a notion that the Ford brand can’t be luxurious. "I don’t know where it came from that trucks can’t be fashionable," he said. "They’re uniquely American, but they can be extremely tasteful."