NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The newly redesigned Ford F-150 pickup can hold up to 3,000 pounds in its 8-foot bed, but it's not clear it will be able to deliver the profits needed by the world's No. 2 automaker.

The nation's most popular vehicle for more than two decades, the F-150 is undergoing its first overall revamping in seven years. The new design offers more creature comforts and car-like offerings, splitting the vehicle into five different trim classes -- up from the current three -- in order to appeal to both car and sport/utility vehicle drivers as well as the traditional truck buyers.

Analysts question whether the increased cost of the new version of the F-150 will be made up by increased pricing and luxury options.

The vehicle is crucial to Ford's future prospects. With more than 800,000 sold in the United States last year, it represented 22 percent of Ford Motor Co.'s overall U.S. vehicle sales last year. Since it has a much stronger average sales price and profit margins than the company's other top sellers, Ford would have been in the red once again without the F-150's contribution to profits.

The new model has gotten generally good reviews for its ride and design features, said Drew Winter, editor of Ward's AutoWorld magazine. But even with that there are challenges for the key vehicle.

"The buzz in the automotive community is it's a great design and will be well accepted in the marketplace, but it has to be great with new competitors coming up," said Winter. He said Nissan's entry into the full-size pickup market -- its new Titan is coming out later this year -- coupled with Toyota's growing sales for its Tundra are worries for the traditional Big Three who have long dominated the full-size pickup market.

"When you have a Titan and improved bigger Tundra coming, short term, it's not a big issue," said Winter. "But when you look what the Japanese automakers have done in passenger cars, and everything else, you can see long-term it's big trouble."

Ford will continue to make the old version of the F-150 pickup for the next year.

Analysts believe that the increased cost to build the new model -- about $1,500 more per vehicle compared with the current F150, according to some estimates -- will not be covered by the more modest $245 to $635 increases in sales prices.

Ford officials, who will not comment on the cost of building the new F-150, insist that more luxurious models and options, coupled with lower incentives compared with the current version, will allow them to recoup the increased costs.

Its new F-150 Lariat Super Crew, with two rows of standard leather seats, starts at $35,570, and can easily get over $40,000 with options including a floor-mounted shifter, a DVD entertainment system and seat warmers.

"The Lariat series looks like a Lincoln inside and probably won't be carrying much gravel," said George Pipas, Ford's manager of sales analysis.

But some question whether the move to higher-priced versions of the pickup will be enough given the growing competition in the large pickup segment. Meanwhile, competitor General Motors Corp. is keeping up the pressure on incentives.

"Look what happened with the redesigned Expedition last year," said UBS auto analyst Saul Rubin, speaking about Ford's full-size SUV. "The new Expedition was definitely a better vehicle. It drove much better. The interior was nicer, just like the new F-150. But the cost was high, and here we are a year later, and pricing is essentially the same as the old model, so Ford has had to eat the cost.

"If that occurs with the F-150, Ford has a real problem," said Rubin, who has a "reduce 2" recommendation, advising clients to sell Ford shares.

Ford will even be offering some competition to itself for the first year, continuing to make the old version of the F-150 at an Ontario plant slated for closure a year from now.

It didn't make sense to pay the cost of a changeover to the new model for such a short production run at that plant, Pipas said, but the production from that plant, which will build about 20 percent of the F-150's in the next 12 months, is needed until a new plant opens in Michigan.

Pipas said the offering will also help attract some lower-priced buyers. Ford is offering a manual transmission, V-6 version on the old design not available on the new design for about $2,000 less than the cheapest new model. Comparably equipped "Heritage" models will cost about $300 less than the new design.

Winter doesn't think competition from the old version will be a major hit to the new F-150's sales, but Rubin says it's one more factor working against Ford getting the necessary pricing of the new model.