Why do Americans like Pickup trucks?

[caddieo]

I can very well understand and appreciate the utilitarian beauty of a pickup. During one 8-year segment of my life, I lived in semi-rural IL and had one so I could haul manure and other bulky or nasty stuff (plus a BMW and an Audi for the rest). And now, in semi-rural FL, I do not begrudge the presence of the pickups that I see with evidence of utilitarian use - be it their cargo, or their bed and body scars. I can even appreciate those highly jacked-up mods when I see the wheel wells caked with mud. In those situations, I willingly give a pass to their high fuel consumption and emissions. However, I shake my head in amused wonder at the occasional beauty queen, all gussied up with decorative and functional automotive "jewelry". I've even seen one with a full body wrap! That's when I join the other posters who question the motivation behind such choices and actions. Still, given the possible variety of reasons, I hesitate to make any firm conclusions but those mentioned so far by other posters are among those that cross my mind.

 

[TEG]

...
Living where I do, you can easily and accurately stereotype 'truck people' (excluding those who use a truck for work of course). They'll spend huge dollars to buy the expensive edition, then more to jack them up (how can that be safe in an accident if they hit anything other than another monster truck?), add chrome, remove or open up the exhaust system... and some even set themselves up as 'Coal Rollers'. They are the ones who you can accurately predict will make a stupid or arrogant move in traffic. They are proof that the education system is failing and that you simply "can't fix stupid"....

 

[rolosrevenge]

I used to have a little pickup and it was so useful. I sold it when the family expanded but now that I own a house, I really wish I had one again. But I don't want to have two cars, so I can't justify the expense.

 

[muleferg]

Farm truck.

 

[renim]

Another country that loves pickup trucks (utes) Thailand
Best Selling Cars Thailand March 2015: Honda HR-V and Toyota Camry shoot up

Pos	Model	Mar-15	%	Feb	2015	%	Pos	FY14
1	Toyota Hilux	11,849	16.0%	1	32,845	16.6%	1	1
2	Isuzu D-Max	10,628	14.3%	2	29,809	15.1%	2	2
3	Toyota Yaris	4,736	6.4%	4	10,869	5.5%	3	3
4	Toyota Vios	4,153	5.6%	3	10,579	5.3%	4	4
5	Honda City	2,938	4.0%	5	8,790	4.4%	5	5
6	Toyota Corolla	2,578	3.5%	6	7,132	3.6%	6	6
7	Honda HR-V	2,500	3.4%	12	5,658	2.9%	9	34
8	Mitsubishi Triton	2,379	3.2%	7	6,550	3.3%	7	7
9	Nissan Navara	1,985	2.7%	8	5,954	3.0%	8	12
10	Ford Ranger	1,931	2.6%	9	5,073	2.6%	11	8

Hilux, D-Max, Triton, Navara, Ranger are all pickup trucks and place in the top 10 (including 1st and 2nd place)
reasons include usefullnes, and ability not to get bogged in mud.



Another Country Australia, 3 utes in the top 10
Hilux, Ranger and Triton
The 10 most popular cars of 2014
reasons include ability not to get bogged when parking (very important for Tradespeople, they may drive on bitumen, but the park on the dirt), and ability to haul stuff in the back.
Top 10 models – 2014
1. Toyota Corolla – 43,735
2. Mazda3 – 43,313
3. Toyota HiLux – 38,126
4. Hyundai i30 – 31,505
5. Holden Commodore – 30,203
6. Ford Ranger – 26,619
7. Mitsubishi Triton – 24,256
8. Toyota Camry – 22,044
9. Mazda CX-5 – 21,571
10. Volkswagen Golf – 19,178



Some regions pivot to trucks for work vehicles, some choose vans, So China may prefer enclosed vans like WULING, serves a similar purpose

- - - Updated - - -

Thailand March 2015 – models:

Pos	Model	Mar-15	%	Feb	2015	%	Pos	FY14
1	Toyota Hilux	11,849	16.0%	1	32,845	16.6%	1	1
2	Isuzu D-Max	10,628	14.3%	2	29,809	15.1%	2	2
3	Toyota Yaris	4,736	6.4%	4	10,869	5.5%	3	3
4	Toyota Vios	4,153	5.6%	3	10,579	5.3%	4	4
5	Honda City	2,938	4.0%	5	8,790	4.4%	5	5
6	Toyota Corolla	2,578	3.5%	6	7,132	3.6%	6	6
7	Honda HR-V	2,500	3.4%	12	5,658	2.9%	9	34
8	Mitsubishi Triton	2,379	3.2%	7	6,550	3.3%	7	7
9	Nissan Navara	1,985	2.7%	8	5,954	3.0%	8	12
10	Ford Ranger	1,931	2.6%	9	5,073	2.6%	11	8

- - - Updated - - -

Thailand March 2015 – models:


Pos Model Mar-15 % Feb 2015 % Pos FY14
1 Toyota Hilux 11,849 16.0% 1 32,845 16.6% 1 1
2 Isuzu D-Max 10,628 14.3% 2 29,809 15.1% 2 2
3 Toyota Yaris 4,736 6.4% 4 10,869 5.5% 3 3
4 Toyota Vios 4,153 5.6% 3 10,579 5.3% 4 4
5 Honda City 2,938 4.0% 5 8,790 4.4% 5 5
6 Toyota Corolla 2,578 3.5% 6 7,132 3.6% 6 6
7 Honda HR-V 2,500 3.4% 12 5,658 2.9% 9 34
8 Mitsubishi Triton 2,379 3.2% 7 6,550 3.3% 7 7
9 Nissan Navara 1,985 2.7% 8 5,954 3.0% 8 12
10 Ford Ranger 1,931 2.6% 9 5,073 2.6% 11 8

 

[jaguar36]

If you need to haul more "nasty" stuff, why can't you just use a small trailer?

People don't want to own a trailer because, where you put it?? There isn't any room anywhere. Then I'd also have to pay for parking the trailer, insurance, MOT, taxes, and all sorts of crap.

Thats exactly why I don't have a trailer and as others have said driving a pickup is much nicer than driving a car with a trailer.

In addition, comparing a F-150 Ecoboost V6 to a BMW 335i, they get about the same gas mileage. So you get a car that's an order of magnitude more practical, and while it obviously doesn't handle as well, they do drive fairly well. Plus you get much better visibility in traffic.

 

[bestellen]

The U.S. car manufacturers started with large cars and large displacement engines since World War II. This was the first heyday of car ownership and most engines were large displacement 6 and 8 cylinder class. They are just continuing this into todays market. 4 cylinder cars were considered budget cars or entry level until the last few years People in the U.S. want more horsepower every year, that is why automakers have increase it along with the help of more modern and larger engines. The modern V6 is the most popular engine format in usually 2.5 to 3.7L size for U.S. cars.

The most popular Truck in the U.S. is a Ford F150 Pickup truck with a V6 or V8 gas or diesel engine. The most popular car is a Toyota Camry with a 2.4 I4 or 3.5 V6.

Also gasoline is very cheap compared to the rest of the world.

Our transportation system is also primarily based on roads and freeways, not public transportation like rail, buses and subways.

 

[Matias]

I think the better question is how to people in Europe move stuff. I don't have a pickup and I always have a issue whenever I want to move furniture, get plywood, get stone or mulch. I either have to pay a giant delivery fee, or rental fee. And its a giant inconvenience and headache.

I either rent a trailer or a van. Of course in those situations pickup would be nice.

 

[beeeerock]

I think that in North America, the truck is so commonplace and part of the culture that it has become a luxury item, such as a hot tub or swimming pool. The economics of it might not make sense for many people, but it's an acceptable thing to put money into anyway.

If people were to calculate what a truck costs them each year in depreciation, insurance, maintenance, fuel etc, I'd wager most would be better off renting a truck for the three or four times a year they *really* can't do without it. Even at what appear to be expensive rental rates. But it's also nice to be able to use it at a moment's notice and not let the duties/projects accumulate to make a rental more worthwhile.

Similarly, the economics of a backyard swimming pool are also quite skewed and most people would be better off buying a pass to the local public swimming pool. But being able to relax around the pool when you want, with friends, has some intangible value that can't be included in the economic analysis. So the pool is a luxury item, and for many, so is the truck.

 

[igotzzoom]

As a journalist that covers the light truck segment, I think there are several reasons. I think there is a romanticized agrarian, individualist ethos that is captured in the modern imagination by the pickup truck. A lot of people like a "do anything" vehicle. And although the prospect of a full BEV pickup maybe isn't realistic yet, huge strides have been made to make pickups more fuel efficient. The latest Ram 1500 EcoDiesel gets 29 mpg highway. That's really amazing to me, considering my former car (Mazda Protege5) had less than half as much power, weighed about half as much, and could only manage 28 mpg highway. I'm sure we're going to see 30+ hwy MPG fullsize trucks within the next few years.

The efficiency gap between pickups and passenger cars has narrowed considerably over the last few years, and I think that fact has prompted more car buyers to consider a pickup as a viable daily-driver option.

 

[eye.surgeon]

There's a lot of hypocrisy from the American apologist crowd about trucks. The same crowd that loves the completely impractical 2 door,2 seat European sports car that is designed purely for lap times but is primarily used as a commuter vehicle (ahem, Tesla Roadster) is somehow butt hurt about someone driving a truck unless the bed is full of farm animals. I suspect what rubs these the wrong way is it's American-ness, something they wish didn't exist.

 

[Skotty]

To haul stuff.

</endthread>

My wife and I don't have a truck anymore, but luckily our relatives have one we can borrow, and we have used it many times. Just thinking back to it's many uses in recent past... to haul wall stones for a landscape wall, to haul lumber for the fence we are building, to haul old shrubs and yard waste to a mulch/recycle center (twice), to haul sand for a sandbox, to haul a load of trash to the dump, to haul a bed (twice), to haul table saw and some other large tools, to haul an air hockey table, within the next or two we will borrow it again to haul a load of mulch...this is just what I can remember off the top of my head within the past year or two.

 

[TDR32]

There are also tax deductions for business owners for vehicles over a certain weight. That is why my father has the truck he has.

 

[igotzzoom]

I suspect what rubs many people the wrong way is it's American-ness.

 

[Drucifer]

Mulch. Yeah, I do my own yard work, but when it is time to re-mulch, I need several CUBIC YARDS of it. I get it delivered by a landscape supply company that uses a truck that is substantially bigger than a pickup truck.

 

[jaguar36]

If people were to calculate what a truck costs them each year in depreciation, insurance, maintenance, fuel etc, I'd wager most would be better off renting a truck for the three or four times a year they *really* can't do without it. Even at what appear to be expensive rental rates. But it's also nice to be able to use it at a moment's notice and not let the duties/projects accumulate to make a rental more worthwhile.

Economically, sure it makes sense just to rent the truck. Practically, its a giant pain in the ass. Even with the Hertz To Go thing, where you can theoretically just walk up and drive off in the truck, it takes a ton more planning, and even then I've had issues with availability. Not to mention that you can never justify it for something small like one sheet of plywood or drywall.

 

[beeeerock]

Economically, sure it makes sense just to rent the truck. Practically, its a giant pain in the ass. Even with the Hertz To Go thing, where you can theoretically just walk up and drive off in the truck, it takes a ton more planning, and even then I've had issues with availability. Not to mention that you can never justify it for something small like one sheet of plywood or drywall.

I don't disagree. I was simply making the point that for many people, it's a luxury item, or a disposable income item. As glhs27 stated a few pages back, he has his truck parked 360 days of the year... meaning it get used 5 days a year. Insurance... say $400... depreciation... allow another $1,000 or more if it's not an old beater... maintenance to fix what the mice chewed through in the 360 days... $100. Those items alone mean he's paying $300 per day, plus fuel, when he drives it. I'm not saying it's wrong, just that it doesn't always make financial sense. :smile:

I'm not any better with my old Alfa in the garage. I park my daily driver outside all winter just so the Alfa has a cosy place to sleep. I insure it, I change the oil annually whether the mileage justifies it or not, and I put parts into it every year it seems. How many km's do I drive annually? I don't want to know, but I'd be surprised if it reached 1,000! My cost to drive it probably comes close to $2/km which is, frankly, quite insane. But so is drinking beer at pub prices when you could buy a case from the liquor store, or drink water... the best things in life don't always make financial sense... frankly, they rarely do...

 

[reddy]

I've always assumed it was a phallic representation.

Look at the hood and grill, gents.

Size matters.

 

[brianman]

I've always assumed it was a phallic representation.

Look at the hood and grill, gents.

Size matters.

Standard fare. When you don't like something paint it as phallic, or sexist, or alien, or whatever.

If you don't like 'em, don't buy 'em. No need to project your issues upon those that do like them.

 

[nwdiver]

If you don't like 'em, don't buy 'em. No need to project your issues upon those that do like them.

I doubt that's the issue here... I take issue with people that are so ignorant as to think that it's appropriate to use a vehicle getting less than 30 mpg when something getting >60mpg would more than suffice. My right to a stable climate supersedes their freedom to make idiotic decisions.

Trucks have their uses... getting yourself to and from work isn't one of them... sadly that's what >90% of the trucks I see on the roads are used for and it's absolutely pathetic.