SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Pickup trucks and SUVs account for 6 of the 10 best selling vehicles with transaction prices over $50,000 according to a forecast by TrueCar.com. Ford’s F-Series pickup truck is the most popular vehicle in the segment with a projected volume of 189,776 units sold this year.

Chrysler’s Ram pickups are the second most popular with forecasted sales of 76,266 units followed by the Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan, with estimated sales of 67,006 units.

“Conventional wisdom says that German premium brands would dominate the list of top selling vehicles over $50,000,” said John Krafcik, president of TrueCar. “The reality is that this price segment of the market is dominated by American pickups and SUVs sold through non-premium brand dealers.”

The recent surge in popularity of trucks and SUVs is linked to an improved U.S. economy, recovering housing and construction industry and cheaper gas prices, according to TrueCar. The company project sales of these high priced trucks to exceed 1 million units.

Revenue from F-Series trucks sold at a transaction price of over 50,000 is expected to be about 10.8 billion. This represents a third of total revenue generated by the entire line of F-Series trucks. TrueCar sees this as evidence that 50,000 has now become an important pricing threshold for all vehicles and not just luxury brands.

“It wasn’t so long ago that $30,000 was considered an important pricing threshold and the province of premium brand sonly,” said Krafcik. “Now with over a million new vehicle sales transacting over $50,000 its fair to say 50 is the new 30.”