Compact Pickups USA - lack of them

[Nu18F]

What's up with these automakers are not offering true compact trucks in their line-ups here in the USA. The current and upcoming midsize trucks cost near as much as full size and sitting side by side, are almost as large, get about the same gas mileage.

I want a 2017 Hilux 4x4 - standard cab - :thumbup:

[Nu18F]

http://www.autolink.eu/en/toyota-hilux-revo-pickup-single-cab/import-export/1733

http://www.photo.autolink.eu/1733/other/import-export-toyota-hilux-revo-pickup-single-cab-1733-341282.jpg

[kimona]

Love mini P/U's, but sadly they've become a thing of the past... in th U.S.

[bronsin]

Agree. My 86 Tacoma with the 2.4 liter engine was a honey!

I've seen Japanese mini trucks for sale used that would be great if only they were legal for the road...

[Nu18F]

My first spanking new vehicle was a 1979 Toyota 4x4 pickup. Tan color inside and out . Oh man, the places we went. I want/need another one all these years later. A 2017-18 version that is.

[toad]

My 1999 Tacoma is still my favorite vehicle I've ever owned! It was the Prerunner model with the standard cab. I'd get another, but I don't like how much larger they are now- both size and price!

I don't miss the phone calls whenever somebody was moving, however.

[kimona]

Had a 1985 Toyota Xtra Cab long bed P/U (barebones 5spd) and a 1989 Mazda B2200 Std Cab short bed P/U (barebones 5 spd). Loved both those trucks. I think the Mazda was actually a better truck.

[Kalispel]

The U.S. car market sucks, period. The masses all want the same type of crap vehicles, so crap is what we get in abundance.

[scratchpaddy]

As we see with our little cars, the main market for small vehicles is overseas. It would make the most sense for companies to build their small trucks in the markets where they're the most popular, and import some to fill the modest demand here. Unfortunately, Congress passed a 25% tariff on imported trucks and cargo vans in 1963, effectively banning them from the country. Essentially, trucks and vans are not allowed to be sold in the U.S. unless they're built here. Profit margins are always tight on smaller vehicles here, so there's just not enough to justify building a whole new plant just to squeeze a little bit of profit from a few small trucks in the U.S..

Another problem is fuel economy standards. Anything car-sized gets treated like a car by the EPA, despite all the heavier-duty, less-aerodynamic components that make a truck, a truck. Huge trucks are held to far more lax standards, so, partially thanks to fuel-economy requirements, the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. are huge, gas-guzzling trucks.

[kimona]

The U.S. car market sucks, period. The masses all want the same type of crap vehicles, so crap is what we get in abundance.

^^^ This.

[Nu18F]

I read this on another site .

http://www.automotive.com/news/2014-ford-f-150-svt-raptor-special-edition-debuts-ford-sees-room-for-compact-pickup-133817/#ixzz34S9Y0AeJ

Ford's truck program marketing manager Doug Scott finally said what we've known all along: There is room for a new small truck to replace the Ranger. The thing is, it might not be the Ranger. "It'd have to be a true compact truck," says Scott. "It has to be clearly differentiated from the F-150 in price, size, and fuel economy." Scott says today's not-so-compact pickup trucks just don't do that.

Going into further detail, Scott said a truck that's cheap and frugal along the lines of the first Ford Ranger and Nissan "Hardbody" Truck of the 1980s is where the segment needs to head.

I saved this link from 2010.

http://special-reports.pickuptrucks.com/2010/01/2010-naias-nissan-wants-to-take-small-trucks-back-in-time.html

Larry Dominique, vice president advanced and product planning and strategy at Nissan North America, says the next Frontier is going back to what made small trucks popular in the first place.

“What we want to do with the compact truck market is go back to the basics of what it used to be,” Dominique said. “If you talk to the compact truck buyers, it’s not why they originally bought these things. They wanted a cheap, get-me-done truck and that doesn’t exist. If you go outside this country, we sell our old small trucks in high volumes because people want a cheap truck with a one-ton payload. We think if we can get that equation back in line -- and that’s a big if – we think there’s clearly a market opportunity.“

[Nu18F]

Difference is that new Ranger appears is going to be a reskinned copy of the current UK model that's fairly large and around 4200lbs curb weight. Rumored starting price 25k.

The compact Nissan NP300 for the Mexico market introduced in 2016 is around 3400lbs curb weight , currency conversion 14k USD.

I'll take two of the 14k usd models with A/C and radio delete please :biggrin: