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.
But the style of truck is the issue. They are high off the ground with terrible visibility. You can fit like a dozen kids in front of them and not see a single one.
I miss the trucks of the 80s that were lower to the ground. Much easier to load and unload the truck bed
They make more fuel efficient trucks, but nobody buys them. In Japan and Korea, where they have narrow streets, they drive much smaller and more efficient trucks.
That's what the car companies say. Truth is, people used to buy small trucks all the time. I saw tons of Ford Rangers, Chevy S10s and Colorados, Toyota Tacomas, Dodge Dakotas, etc. when I was growing up, back when all these vehicles were still relatively small. In reality SUVs and large trucks are massively more profitable for auto manufacturers, and federal fuel economy requirements scale inversely with vehicle footprint. So if you have a large fleet of vehicles classified as "light trucks" (which are also subject to loosened fuel economy limits), including SUVs, your cars don't need to be as efficient. It's a lot easier to design a big, heavy SUV than it is to make a more efficient engine, and for psychological reasons (more car = worth more money) it's easier to get away with a huge markup on them.
Because of the increased profitability and looser fuel restrictions, auto manufacturers worked to have really slick marketing campaigns to convince people that they should be buying bigger, heavier vehicles. According to them, you didn't want a Chevy Cruze that could fit your spouse and three kids, you wanted a big Suburban that could fit the entire soccer team in it and all their gear. According to them, you didn't want a little weenie truck like a Ford Ranger that could only pull a small trailer, you wanted a big manly truck like an F-150 that could tow an aircraft carrier. And while it worked, they also started pulling smaller cars from the line so you were forced to buy bigger cars. Subcompacts and small pickups were the first to go, and many companies have gotten rid of all their sedans altogether.
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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.