With the surge of cute utes, why did all small trucks become brutes?

Every now and then, I wonder why the evolution of small trucks did not mirror SUVs. There must be a way to make a small truck that gets mileage comparable to a car's, while still allowing the versatility of an open loading area of a truck. Not to mention, offer a competitive value advantage to full-size trucks. Do all trucks need to be RWD? I imagine a FWD truck allowing for a lower bed, making loading a motorcycle or riding mower much easier.

What company will be the first to revisit the trucklet? Ford, GM, Ram; even Nissan and Toyota have too much skin in the game with their current lineup. Would Honda dare to give the segment a second look? Hyundai?

VW should make a new Caddy with a TDI. Done and done.

I really believe that with an AWD system, something like the Holden Ute could do well here as a rebadged GM product. Of course... I keep hoping for one with an LSx and a proper manual... but the soft-roaders are so popular, I could see one working. On the other hand, people bought utes because they didn't want wagons or mini-vans. Then they got pissy when they rode like well...trucks. So they wanted them to be cars. Take a look at ANY soft SUV and you basically have a tall wagon, or a minivan without sliding doors. Consumers tricked themselves into buying vans without actually buying vans.

I'd love a modern compact pickup similar in size to the pre-Ford Mazda B-Series or pre-Tacoma Toyota. Front wheel drive would be fine.

I wouldn't mind a pickup version of what I have now. Small, FWD, with a fairly low floor.

This is the closest I can think of. Would be better with a longer bed though.

Hmm... what would be the options for upgrading the suspension on one of these guys? Could they be made to handle?

Hal wrote: I wouldn't mind a pickup version of what I have now. Small, FWD, with a fairly low floor.

I would probably buy a truck version of this. Many fond memories of my youth being carted around in my dad's Rampage which, come to think of it, he may have bought only because he couldn't handle more than one of us kids at a time.

Hmm... what would be the options for upgrading the suspension on one of these guys? Could they be made to handle?

I believe the options would be "anything sold for the other subarus", more or less. If you wanted stiffness without removing the inherent lift relative to regular legacies you'd probably be looking at rally setups for the other cars.

There must be a way to make a small truck that gets mileage comparable to a car's, while still allowing the versatility of an open loading area of a truck. Not to mention, offer a competitive value advantage to full-size trucks.

There are tons of ways. Your last sentence is the reason they aren't sold here (and thus the reason why many manufacturers dont built them).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

The basic idea behind why we dont have efficient fwd compact pickups is that while the USA barges around demanding everyone else lower their trade barriers so we can exploit them, and funnels money to governments who do even if they happen to be (frequently) dictatorships and egregious human rights criminals, we ourselves protect our own manufacturing industry (with protectionist trade barriers like the chicken tax), an industry which was built on the back of the taxpayer during ww2 while it was basically a state-run industry (Socialism is evil, but only when practiced by our official enemies), while we were coincidentally blowing up everyone elses manufacturing infrastructure or watching it get blown up.

So basically the fact that we dont get a lot of sensical compact pickups touches on a lot of our diabolical policy machinations, the ideas behind which go back through MOST of the ~250yr history of this nation.

Got to imagine it was the chicken tax that let American cars makers just give up on trying to be competitive in the small truck market. Plus for every small truck they don't sell, they tend to sell a much bigger one.

As the delivery guys run out of 4-cylinder Rangers to use, they're replacing them with PT Cruisers, HHRs, and we're starting to see a few Transits too.

In reply to Vigo:

That article says that to avoid the tax, Ford "imports the Transit Connect light trucks as "passenger vehicles" to the U.S. from Turkey and immediately strips and shreds portions of their interiors in a warehouse outside Baltimore."

Seriously?

Photoshop skills = 0

WANT = YES

Problem is, a TC has a base price barely lower than an F-150. Is the market there for a mini-truck that costs as much as a full-size?

crankwalk wrote: VW should make a new Caddy with a TDI. Done and done.

They won't. Their own pickup has gone Full Tacoma. Although at least they've held on to that tradition of not offering it in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Amarok

I believe this is part of it

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-cafe-killed-compact-trucks-and-station-wagons/

Mitchell wrote: Every now and then, I wonder why the evolution of small trucks did not mirror SUVs.

I'm being completely stereotypical and somewhat sexist in this reply, but I feel there's quite a bit of truth behind it:

Women want cute-utes because they're easier to drive and get better milage than something larger, while still offering a higher seating position, giving them a sense being "bigger" and/or safer.

On the other hand, men want the biggest pickup they can find, partly to one-up their friends and foes, and partly for penis-compensation. Pickups have also become the new musclecar - they offer power and masculinity for guys who have none of their own.

logdog wrote: I believe this is part of it http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-cafe-killed-compact-trucks-and-station-wagons/

Wow, that is an interesting read.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

crankwalk wrote: VW should make a new Caddy with a TDI. Done and done.

They won't. Their own pickup has gone Full Tacoma. Although at least they've held on to that tradition of not offering it in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Amarok

Saw a TDi Amarok at SEMA this year. It was pretty nice but still TOO big!

crankwalk wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

crankwalk wrote: VW should make a new Caddy with a TDI. Done and done.

They won't. Their own pickup has gone Full Tacoma. Although at least they've held on to that tradition of not offering it in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Amarok

Saw a TDi Amarok at SEMA this year. It was pretty nice but still TOO big!

Agreed. Whatever happened to that thing they built in Brazil a few years ago?

There were little Chev, Ford and VW utes all over Mexico when I was there a few years ago. I think lots of companies still build small trucks, but either legislation or market gurus keep them away from us.

Its hard for me to imagine a situation where a Dakota would be too small for me.

crankwalk wrote: VW should make a new Caddy with a TDI. Done and done.

Volkswagen HAS made a new Caddy with a TDI. Several TDI options, in fact. My girlfriends parents own one and it's brilliant!

The Ridgeline is FWD-based, but they're all AWD. I think there were rumors of the next generation Ranger being FWD-based. The challenge is that there doesn't seem to be a good market for much smaller trucks. I've looked into them at a few different times, but they always ended up being more expensive for something that was far less useful to me. And when I last looked, the fuel economy of the compact trucks with the V6s wasn't anything to write home about.

For further proof that GM can make and sell a tiny pickup, but it chooses not to do so in the US, I give you the Mexican-market Chevy Tornado:

Also sold in Brazil (it's actually a product of GM do Brasil) as the Chevrolet Montana.

$16,500 US, including air conditioning. I'd hit that.

dj06482 wrote: The Ridgeline is FWD-based, but they're all AWD. I think there were rumors of the next generation Ranger being FWD-based. The challenge is that there doesn't seem to be a good market for much smaller trucks. I've looked into them at a few different times, but they always ended up being more expensive for something that was far less useful to me. And when I last looked, the fuel economy of the compact trucks with the V6s wasn't anything to write home about.

I don't think there's much of a market for trucks that are a little smaller, like the Ridgeline, but there might be a market for trucks that are a LOT smaller, like the tiny trucks you see in Mexico. The Ridgeline, and to some extent even the Baja, are dumb because they're really not much different than a real truck. They're different to be different, but that doesn't make them better. I want something truly small, a Fiesta based truck, a Fiat 500 based truck, a VW Polo based truck. Something that could get 40 miles per gallon on the freeway and park in tiny spaces and still haul 800 lbs. I'm not pulling that 800 lbs out of my butt either. My Mazda2 has a GVWR or 3263, or right about 1000 lbs more than the car weighs. There's no reason you can't cut the rear seats and hatch out of it and give me a 5 foot bed in that space and not be able to carry 150 lb me and 800 lbs of stuff. Give me a true mini truck, not a 7/8 scale one that gives me no advantages at all over a big truck.

EvanR wrote: For further proof that GM *can* make and sell a tiny pickup, but it chooses not to do so in the US, I give you the Mexican-market Chevy Tornado: $16,500 US, including air conditioning. I'd hit that.

I really want to like that, but what is that hole behind the door?

Beer Baron wrote: This is the closest I can think of. Would be better with a longer bed though. Hmm... what would be the options for upgrading the suspension on one of these guys? Could they be made to handle?

Except that it gets worse gas mileage than many small trucks...

The 4cyl Ranger and Tacoma are both pretty good small trucks. A former roommate picked up a recent Tacoma 4cyl 5 speed. Fun little truck that can still hold a lot and gets pretty good mileage - much better than my other roommate's Subarus did, and not much below my Saturn or other roommate's RSX (all of us with very similar commutes).

I'd like to see a much more utilitarian small truck with a base price way way lower than full-size trucks. But given the market in America, they'd never sell them.

The problem I see with FWD is that any weight in the bed and they will be useless in any sub-par conditions.