Ford hasn't always been No. 1 in pickup trucks, said Lyons. It wasn't until the company "decided to get serious about the truck business in the late 1960s" that it started its climb to the top. But even by 1985, when the F-Series was leading in sales in the U.S., it was lagging in Texas, and its Ranger compact pickup was No. 4, behind Chevy, Dodge and Toyota.

Ford again makes its presence known around San Antonio, even by posting its blue oval atop this water tower in Gruene, a popular tourist destination. (Photo: Joe Cabadas, Canadian Auto Press)

That's when Lyons was sent to Texas to appraise the situation. He found that dealers stocked a lot of base F-150s, but had very few SuperDuty models on hand and virtually no advertising of the Ranger.

Ford started a big ad and product push, becoming the No. 1 truck seller in the Lone Star state the following year. "(Our plan) worked and we've never looked back since," he said.

"The F-150 is tough, capable and dependable. And, the new version has had 5 million miles of testing and the frame is five times stiffer." (Photo: Ford Motor Company)

In 2001, Ford's pickup had an all-time sales record of 911,597 units with its nearest rival trailing by nearly 200,000 units. Ford recently celebrated its 25th straight year as North America's truck sales leader.

Typically when a new model is getting ready to launch, sales of the current model fall off. But bucking the trend buyers have been snatching up current F-150s, Lyons said. "We are down to about 100,000 current F-150s on the ground. Kansas City was down for four weeks and Norfolk was down for a while, so we were worried that we'd drop to only a 40 day supply, but we're now under 100 days, which is good for this time of year."

What do you do when you are the leader in the field, and how do you challenge yourself? Davis asked rhetorically. "You do it through unquestioned leadership. We start with a strong foundation. The F-150 is tough, capable and dependable. And, the new version has had 5 million miles of testing and the frame is five times stiffer."