Bill Pierre Ford

Ford has worked diligently in recent years to diversify its lineup with fuel-efficient cars and crossovers. But the new F-150 could still prove the ultimate linchpin in the automaker’s plans to bounce back from a record $12.6 billion loss in 2006.

That’s because the F-150 is the strongest entry in the F-Series line, which remains the backbone of Ford’s North American business.

The F-Series accounted for more than one out of every four vehicles sold by the automaker in the United States last year, making the company heavily reliant on the F-150’s reputation and sales.

Ford does not divulge F-150 sales separately from its F-Series sales, which include the heavy Super Duty truck. But the F-150 generally accounts for 60% of F-Series sales.

Profits on full-size pickups range between $10,000 and $12,000 per truck, excluding marketing costs, according to CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore. For Ford and other automakers, that amounts to billions of dollars every year.

“For us at Ford Motor Co., the F-Series is our foundation, our core. It’s what the rest of the house is built on top of,” Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of marketing and communications, told the Free Press during a recent interview at Ford’s design studio, where new F-150s were being touched up for today’s show. “It’s fundamental to our turnaround.”