2015 Ford F-150 Priced From $26,615

Ford’s aluminum truck gamble has yet to play itself out, but the Dearborn company just answered one of the biggest questions looking over its upcoming pickup truck: price.

In January, Ford revealed the new F-150 along with its newly aluminum body. But that choice raised a battery of new questions. Aluminum can be tricky to work with; for example its much harder to weld than steel. So would body work be considerably more costly on the new trucks? And speaking of costs, what will people need to spend to own a new F-Series? Those bodies can’t be cheap… As you might have guessed, the new F-150 is getting a price hike, but it might not be as big a jump as you were bracing for. The base XL and XLT trucks will climb by $395. Pricing will start at $26,615 or $31,925 for the XLT model.

On the other hand, Ford is jacking up the tag on its Lariat models by $895 to $39,730. Of course, the company says those price increases also include more standard features than the 2014 model years they replace. Ford expects 85 percent of the F-150s it sells to fall into one of those three trim levels, but the King Ranch and Platinum luxury models will also be available from launch, but you’ll pay $3,615 more for the former or $3,055 for the latter. In plainer terms, you’ll be spending $49,690 for the King Ranch and $52,950 Platinum.

Of course, the most appreciable differences between the ’14 and ’15 model years will come down to performance. In certain configurations, Ford claims the new F-150 manages to shed up to 700 lbs. That should help with fuel economy, towing capacity, handling acceleration and braking.

The standard features list for 2015 includes LED head and tail lights, blind spot monitoring and lane departure warning systems and LED spotlights on the side mirrors.

Ford is expected to begin delivering the new trucks to its dealer network by the end of the year.