The most interesting part of this article to me is that the Ford F-Series pickup truck is the nation's top selling automobile.
It makes sense now, but it wouldn't have been my first guess.
It makes sense now, but it wouldn't have been my first guess.
Have to say, tho, that my wife's F250 diesel feels like it could tow an aircraft carrier!
If any car should be a niche product, it's a truck
You figure a truck is more niche than a V10 supercar? Trucks fill an important role, and I think more people have a use for them than you realize. It's easy to lose sight of that when you live in the city, where trucks have limited use, but the gross majority of the USA is rural.
The other thing that bolsters their sales numbers is use as fleet vehicles, which makes perfectly good sense. Trucks are generally simple, reliable, easy to maintain and inexpensive to build. So they are popular in fleets. Surprise, surprise.
Yes, trucks have an important role. I own a truck (paid it off and bought a car for commuting as well). My grandpa (a farmer) owns a truck. Many of my friends own trucks. But that excess capability that you speak of is the entire reason for owning a truck. Big engines, big transmission, big differentials, a big bed, and a strong frame is what a truck should have. If I can't tow a horse trailer let alone a load of steel, what good is a pickup? Pickup trucks have significant drawbacks (dangerous in the winter, deadly in accidents, hard to park), but none of that matters if you need a pickup.
You talk about contractors and fleet vehicles as if they're reason for mass-market full-size pickup trucks, but those are not mass-market use cases. Those are business uses. And let me make a big correction here, but most of the US is not rural. Not even close [1]. As of the 2000 census, almost 80% of the US was urban/suburban, and more than half of that was people living in cities over 200,000 people.
Pickup trucks are a status symbol, and while I don't have numbers to back it up, I would guess it would be more economical for people who need a pickup only occasionally to drive a car and rent a pickup. For the rest of us who actually use pickup trucks, the mass-market is turning them into minivan-substitutes the same way SUVs got turned from 7-seater trucks to soccer mom commuter cars. Compare the Tahoe today to the Blazer of 1985 for evidence.
[1] http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census_issues/archives/metr...
I didn't mean most of the US population was rural, just that the majority of the US by area is rural.
Anyway, I'm getting a bit bogged down in the details. I just object to your characterization of trucks as a niche vehicle. While it may be technically accurate- as everything can be described as addressing a niche in the market- it implies the subset of the market is very small, and I don't think that's accurate, particularly not in relation to many other categories of vehicle.
I do share your fears of trucks becoming too "soft" though. I already had to flee the SUV market and put a camper on a light truck instead, because of how SUVs have been changed. My hope is that the market demand for actual trucks is large enough to resist the trend.
I did use hyperbole in saying that trucks are the most niche vehicle, but I'm using hyperbole to prove my point. Contractors, farmers, work men, yes they need pickups. A mom driving her kids to school does not. A person working in an office and living in the city does not. A person who occasionally pulls a camper does not (many SUVs and crossovers are rated for pulling the weight of an average travel trailer).
When snow hits the road, the first two cars to go into the ditch are old compacts (inexperienced drivers) and pickup trucks. Pickup trucks are inherently dangerous to drive, and the people you speak of (work men/women) tend to know how to operate (not just drive) a pickup.
I can agree to disagree, I'm just voicing my frustration at the number of $50k luxury pickup trucks I see driven by people who live and work in the city.
You're right on needs vs. does not need. Just the other day saw a Volvo wagon pulling a little camper, seemed to handle it quiet well.
As for snow on the road, I'd throw in that SUVs are disproportionately found in ditches where I live (my coworkers and I suspect because they breed false confidence) but yes, pickup trucks are also notorious for throwing people in ditches. Many ordinary drivers are not very good with RWD vehicles in slippery conditions.
I hear you on the last part. It does grind my gears a little bit to see the shiny, never-dirty top-spec F150's driving around town. Not to mention the pristine super-duty trucks, although most of the super-duties I see around where I live are either beat to shit and full of stuff or hauling- a service life well-lived.
It seems like we're on the same page, although my views might be a bit stronger than yours.
Now today's Tacoma is bigger than the Ford F-150 from the time of Tacoma's introduction (mid-90's), the Ranger is discontinued, and the rest of the compact pickup field dried up years before.
If someone needs a full bed sometimes but REALLY NEEDS it when they do, I'd rather they be able to drive something that gets upwards of 20mpg (and handles better).
If you can avoid using it as a commuter, by all means, but most people can't afford to have one and the utility it provides and afford a second commuter car, hence the truck as daily driver.
Also, only one time a year? I guess I move a lot of things.
Last time I needed a truck was when I moved this winter. Before that... can't think of when it would have been, but it was years prior. I just don't buy furniture that often.
1) Rams had about a year of popularity here until people realized how crappy they were built
If they also do the diesel for folks who need the higher tow weights or assume they will start buying the F-250 / F-350, then it might be a very good deal for the professional.
1) it also is rumored to have stuff like stop/start technology that shuts off the engine while idling in traffic except when hauling a load.