The Pickup Truck Wars Are About to Go Nuclear

At a time when each of the big half-ton pickup truck makers (Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Nissan, Ram and Toyota) are finishing one of their biggest years in recent memory, it looks like the segment is going to get even hotter. According to a recent Bloomberg piece, both Ram and Chevrolet will likely introduce their latest and greatest versions of their new half-ton pickup trucks at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January.

That means things are about to get real.

It's no secret that pickup truck sales for Ford, Ram and GM have been providing each of their respective corporations with the lion's share of bottom-line-padding profits. In fact, for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, if you took out a few Jeeps and Ram, we doubt the company could survive more than a few weeks. Jeep and Ram are doing all of the heavy hauling from a sales and gross profit point of view. And although none of the automakers like to give us the exact amount of profit they make on each pickup, we're guessing those profits are the major reasons both Ford and GM are doing so well lately, too.

We've seen quite a few spy photos lately of both the  and  in recent months, which is usually the dead giveaway that something is close to its reveal date. And it would make sense to see these important products revealed at the most important auto show of the year (although we're guessing we'll see more new products at the State Fair of Texas later in the fall).

With Ram and Chevrolet likely to make their big debuts in Detroit, that means Ford had better do something interesting as well, since both will be gunning for the top dog. No doubt, Ford is happy the 2018 Ford F-150 just won the , but it will need more than that to get attention with two high-profile reveals scheduled at the same auto show.

We're hearing rumors about new powertrains and possible Super Duty information, so we're guessing this year's Detroit show will be more about real-world vehicles making their companies the biggest profits than esoteric discussions or concept models prognosticating about what type of autonomous vehicles we'll be driving by 2045.

We'll be sure to pass along more info as we get more intel or hear from our spy photographers. Stay tuned.

Cars.com photos by Evan Sears