The full-sized pickup segment came to sudden fall and at a horrible time for Ford and Chrysler as they get ready to bring their new updated pickups to the market. The segment is expected to fall about 500,000 units this year to an all-time-low at 1.65 billion.

The Ford F-Series is Ford”s best-selling vehicle and the Dodge Ram is no less for Chrysler. Both companies were counting heavily on the two updated models but are now scrambling to get rid of their 2008 inventories before the market gets any worse.

With the $4 a gallon average aside, even devoted large-pickup can”t afford to buy a new model since the trade-in values are decreasing significantly as demand weakens.

Sales in the pickup segment have been falling for the past three months. Ford”s F-Series, the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. lost its number one spot last month to the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and the Toyota Camry.

“The most important thing is to just bring down the production but also have a very successful launch,” said Ford CEO Alan Mulally. “Later on, we’ll figure out what is the right (production) footprint for the long term.”

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)