The Core

https://thehustle.co/01272023-pickups/

"Less bed, more cab, and a whole lot of pleasure driving."

"The Ford F-150 has been America’s bestselling car for 41 years."

"87% of pickup owners frequently use their truck for shopping, and 70% say they do so for pleasure driving."

"To accommodate for this, today’s F-150s are 63% cab and 37% bed, a near-total opposite from early generations’ 36% cab, 64% bed design."

"Since 1990, the average mass of US vehicles has increased 25%."

"They’re getting heavier, too, as the industry electrifies them with enormous batteries. Ford’s F-150 Lightning, for instance, at ~6.5k pounds, weighs 35% more than its gasoline twin."

Of course you still can get a short cab and a long bed. It's just that most people want a car that looks like a man's vehicle and can haul a family, not a car that can haul a load of plywood or drywall.

There were some recent-year models of F150 that had the dual cab AND a long bed ...those things are huge.

There were some recent-year models of F150 that had the dual cab AND a long bed ...those things are huge.

When our plow truck was in the shop, we had one of these to plow with. Turning it around on a dead end street was impossible. So you had to back down any deadend from the nearest intersection. Horrible truck.

>> sticks out in the road.

Even smaller trucks don't park well... which drives me a bit crazy when plowing. This is typical (and look how short that bed is)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kd8USkVUEyTCyHwA9

Also:  nobody calls them a pickup any more.  They are a "truck."  I still find that annoying.

In South Africa the vehicle is called a bakkie, a dutch word that refers to the flat bed portion of the vehicle for carrying loads.