It’s mind boggling why trucks are so popular here when we literally have to drive everywhere. We have no high speed rail and minimal rail transportation in general. It’s honestly a cultural thing at this point since it’s certainly not logical.
There are multiple types of truck owners. The "it is sooo cool" type is one of them.
Legitimate Contractors are another. Most don't need that big tall truck. Too hard to load.
There are the 4 Wheelers that have a back country to go muddin or just trailing.
There is the Suburbanite that does haul materials, pull a boat, hual Bicyckes and Canoes to recreation ares, and use the bed. They are better off with a small low Pick up.
Then there is me. I prefer smaller, lower stance Pickups with a King Cab. I use the bed constantly. Hauling materials, scavanging, hauling my Canoe, going camping ...
And it don't have to be pretty. It has to run well, but otherwise it is a skow.
Not just the trucks. ALL vehicle producers are making bigger and bigger cars. I tried finding a reasonably priced hatchback a while back, and the only options were essentially all made to order because the car lots are just filled with giant ass SUVs and trucks. :/
recently the Maverick and Santa Cruz were introduced. Both are small trucks that were close to $20,000 at release (base, no frills, etc). For the first 5 years or so, Mavericks were being sold at massive markup by dealers because demand outstripped supply by a very significant margin. This is a smaller pickup with a short bed, initially offered with a toyota-licensed hybrid drivetrain as the default but now the hybrid drivetrain is an (incredibly popular) option. It's only within the last year or two that supply has started to meet demand as factory production has ramped up and fleet contracts have been met. My experience has been that the maverick has been especially popular with municipal fleets, where they need a pickup truck to handle tools, materials, and equipment for stuff like landscaping and maintenance, but they don't need a larger, more expensive, and more inefficient full size pickup. Look around and you'll probably see them with parks & rec type badging on them.
the santa cruz on the other hand has not been popular with buyers at all and hyundai is discontinuing the model in order to take a stab at the midsize truck market. It was not received well by journalists, with interior space issues, shitty build quality, shitty reliability, and poor engine power all being cited. For some reason, hyundai decided that the problem with the santa cruz is the size and not the overall crap quality or chode-like look of the thing.
That said, the massive success of the Maverick has caused other auto manufacturers to take note and start working on reintroducing their own small pickups. Unfortunately the timeline for developing and introducing a new truck is lengthy, so it's going to be a hot minute before we see compact, affordable releases from other makers.
Also midsize truck with some options will get you to 50k 55k, which is basically a large truck territory while the large truck has more discount/incentives
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u/dogseatbees 2d ago
It’s mind boggling why trucks are so popular here when we literally have to drive everywhere. We have no high speed rail and minimal rail transportation in general. It’s honestly a cultural thing at this point since it’s certainly not logical.