DETROIT — Detroit’s Big Three automakers are showing a new sense of bottom-line discipline as they angle for any advantage in the race with Silicon Valley, and one another, to develop the cars of the future.

This week, the companies — General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler — reported earnings that highlighted the underlying strengths in their basic business of building mass-market vehicles, particularly hot-selling trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Ford was the latest to weigh in, announcing Thursday that robust sales of its bellwether F-series pickup had fueled a $1.6 billion profit for the third quarter, a 63 percent increase over the same period a year ago.

And like General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, which reported their results earlier in the week, Ford needs to keep squeezing more profits from mainstream products to finance the new technology necessary for electric and self-driving models.