I agree. That was pretty much my point.
No thanks. I’m on my 2nd full-sized crew-cab pickup. Turns out there’s a ton of practicality with a crew cab. Flip the seat up and you’ve got a fair amount of interior storage. Seat down and you can put three car seats there and the kids are far enough away so that they can’t kick the back of the driver’s seat. As for fuel economy, I get 18-19 MPG driving around town and around 22 on the highway. and it can tow a boat and go 0-60 in under 6 seconds. There’s a lot to like.
+1. If small trucks are all the rage, why is the F-Series the most popular vehicle sold in the US today, followed by the Silverado/Sierra twins?
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And just where are you going to buy a small truck in the US . The Ford Ranger and the Chevrolet S 10 / Sonoma died because the IRS took away the business tax break for them .
You want a shock ? Just check the prices for used Rangers ( Not the newer ones ).
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In my home country New Zealand there are several Chinese pickups that compete (depending on your generosity of definition of the word “compete”) with the Toyota Hilux. They are generally about quarter to half the price at around NZ$18-30,000 / US$12-20,000.
They are at least 1ton payload and the typical engine is 2.8L turbo diesel. The Foton engine is actually a co-design with Cummins with a Getrag 5 speed transmission.
Available as a cab with bare chassis; cab with flatdeck (with fold down sides); single cab well-side tray; double cab well-side.
Look up:
Great-Wall Steed
LDV T60
Foton Tunland
LDV is a big player generally. The interesting side of it is that they will be first to market here with electric pickups. They already have a full-size EV van coming to market.
the big question is: do you really need this kind of car? or people are just happy about it because it’s cheap?
I bet plenty of small businesses could use one.
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+1
Look how well the Isuzu small trucks took off when they were first offered in the US. Other manufacturers moved into that market too.
Small low priced truck . Yes it is needed . I don’t need a full size 30000.00 truck to haul stuff from Home Depot , the plant farm , trips to the landfill or have to have help lifting my lawn mower into the bed .
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I was suspicious about a 9K truck but thought this was real at least… although the video certainly sounds like someone from China. Having lived there for 7 years, it’s cool to see GM competing against Cherry in this segment.
I recently made modifications to my current truck which is a Ford-150. I made it more off-road capable by installing new mud tires that I got from 4WheelOnline. I’ve been following news about Ford Maverick, and I won’t hesitate to get one as a second truck because I really want a unibody compact pickup that I could use for both work and recreational purposes. The selling point for me is that they’ll have an off-road trim as well.
I’ve seen unibody vehicles go off road. It’s not pretty. One guy had a new Grand Cherokee. After one 3 hour off road adventure he had a hard time opening closing at least 3 of his doors due to body twist. Spent over $2000 getting it realigned. And even then it wasn’t like new.
Look at the Hyundai Santa Cruz while you’re at it.
I fail to see the utility in these “pseudo-trucks”.
Long time ago, I recall Subaru decided to catch the “truck” market with Baja, building on the similar concept. I used to work next to the Subaru dealer and more than a year after the model line was cancelled, they still had a number of Baja-s on their lot and ran some ridiculous promo like $13k or so in the end to finally get rid of them.
The only time I drove off road was with my VW, back when I was young and there was a reason to drive off road. Are we still talking about the $9000 unit though that you would have to move to China to buy, or the Maverick?
Just as an aside, I’m doing an American History course to pass the time and the professor talked about the turnpikes being built in New York back in 1810. Was curious about what they were and discovered they actually paved turnpikes with planks. Yep wood planks mile by mile. Wonder if that would classify as off-road now?
The term “turnpike” was the result of the use of a large pole, or “pike” that formed a barrier at the entrance to these early toll roads. When you paid your toll, the attendant would “turn the pike” and allow you to enter upon the road. The toll schedule below is for a 19th Century bridge, but turnpike tolls were similar:
Not all of the early turnpikes were paved with planks, but many of them were. In Bayonne, NJ–where I lived for a few years as a kid–a one-block stretch of one of the early turnpikes has had its name preserved. This street is still called Plank Road.
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Also called ‘corduroy roads’. I wonder if this is part of the Alaska Highway shortly after it was built.:
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My bad for thinking that they were some kind of a super highway back then. I had never thought they were actually paved. Seems like there was some kind of a gravel used before that, but planks were cheaper and lasted about 7 years. Must have been a heck of a project with the equipment they had back then. Hand dug Erie Canal too.
The Delaware & Raritan Canal is about 1/2 mile from my house, and its tow path is an excellent place for power-walks in a natural environment. It was entirely dug by hand by Irish immigrants, about 10 years after the more-famous Erie Canal was built. The only thing about walking there that is… off-putting… is that many of those workers died during a Cholera outbreak, and they were buried under what is now the towpath. I try not to think of what underlies the path while I walk there.
The Canal Era essentially ended when railroads began to dominate the transportation scene.
Must have been a heck of a project with the equipment they had back then. Hand dug Erie Canal too.
I used to think about that every time I went to or got close to New Orleans and always wondered whose idea it was to build a city below sea level.