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."
We went on our honeymoon in a borrowed F-150.
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.
When I had my '76 Ford F-100 the most common comment I got was how big the bed was, especially compared to newer models.
There were some recent-year models of F150 that had the dual cab AND a long bed ...those things are huge.
Also: nobody calls them a pickup any more. They are a "truck." I still find that annoying.
Quote from: rcjordan on January 30, 2023, 07:46:47 PM
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.
>Turning it around on a dead end street was impossible.
Pull it into a parking space and about 1/4 of the p-up sticks out in the road. That's why the last one I saw caught my eye.
>> 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
Nice graphics in this version
https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history
Quote from: grnidone on January 30, 2023, 08:59:13 PM
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.
In French they are "camionettes" which is a diminutive that means "little truck," but like all diminutives, is a bit more cutesy in it's feel. I suspect if they were called "minitrucks" that might impact US sales.
A minivan is one thing, but a minitruck would be another altogether