This really shows you the state of the average person in the US.
Piggybacking off the point some people made about fleet purchases of trucks boosting sales, even with that in mind, out of the top ten vehicles sold its split down the middle with 5 being trucks and only 1 that isnt a fleet targeted truck (the Tacoma being the one truck you dont see many fleets of in the US) and the other 5 are all gas saving sedans, wagon/mini suv like rav4, and 2 electric vehicles. You knock out fleet sales of trucks and id b3 willing to bet that top 10 list jumps to 8 gas conserving whips to 1 maybe 2 pickup trucks.
I'm curious why they dont use the Tacoma more. Cheapest Tacoma is 10 grand cheaper that the cheapest f150.
I would assume they cut deals on bulk purchases and those contracts are competed for. Probably made the decision to cut even deeper and count it as marketing spend to have all those on the road.
RAV4 would be considered on the bigger side here and i wouldn't be surprised if the US model is bigger.
Part of it is the sheer diversity of options and trim levels that are all under the same make and model of the Ford F-150. Taking a look at the Ford F-150 trim levels, there are basically 4 gasoline engines, 2 flex fuel engines, 1 hybrid drivetrain, 1 diesel engine, and a now discontinued EV powertrain. There are about 5 body/cab options, and several suspension options.
In contrast, take, for example, the GM BEV3 platform. It's the Chevy Equinox, Chevy Blazer, Cadillac Lyriq, Cadillac Optiq, Honda Prologue, and Acura ZDX. I've driven several of these and they're all basically the same with different options. There's less diversity in those models than there is for the Ford F-150.
It's not a car, the things are the size of a semi cab. I needed an electric truck and mine is huge too. It's annoying, it doesn't fit anywhere and it's fucking dangerous to pedestrians. Make Trucks Small Again.
I think they will based off the success of the Ford Maverick.
And the dingleberry on top of the shit sundae is that Ford also killed off the EV version. Sure, the F-150 has a lot of problems simply based on its size. But, it is the most popular vehicle in the US and no amount of whining about it is going to change that fact. So, instead of pissing in the wind, the EV F-150 at least tried to meet people where they are. Unfortunately, sales weren't great and Ford gave up on the project. The only upshot is that the venn diagram of diesel F-150 owners whining about gas prices and Trump voters is a small circle fully inside a larger circle. So, the right people are feeling pain.
Ford isn't giving up on electric trucks. It expects to sell the EV Fathom for less than $30,000 next year, and that EV platform is intended to be the foundation of a wide variety of models, with lessons learned from the F-150 Lightning and the Mustang Mach E. One big one they've talked about is the advantages of designing an EV from the ground up with no intention of sharing a platform with an ICE powertrain, and minimizing weight from wiring and harnesses following inefficient paths.
TIL: about the Fathom. Thanks.
Wait they're no longer selling the F-150 Lightning? WTF, Ford?!
That's some VW "Oh we didn't make all the money instantly with BEV cars, so we'll scale down our fleet and effort because of all the poor shareholders"-shortsightedness (which in VW's case at least bit them in the arse properly, because right after they did that reversal BEVs got the upswing that everyone with 10+ braincells knew they'd get based on other countries, and now VW is falling behind)
Yup, it's a dead duck.
Personally, I'm watching the Slate truck with some interest. As I would kinda like a better way to haul trash/yard debris; but, an F-150 (especially the newer, juiced up ones) seems like the type of overkill reserved for killing a fly with a tactical nuclear weapon. I'd be really happy to have one of the older ('90's era) small trucks with an EV drive train. But those were killed by the rule of unintended consequences.
You might also be interested in the Ford Fathom.
Ya actually, that is interesting. Thanks for the link.
EDIT: looking at the pictures, it seems like it's still sized around the current F-150 footprint. But maybe that's just the body styling making it look bigger.
The test platform spottings in the wild put it at Maverick size.
Digging around, that seems to be [just a bit bigger[(https://www.blueovaltrucks.com/ford-maverick-and-old-school-ford-ranger-comparison/) than the old rangers used to be (before Ford supersized them). So, might be a reasonable size for a light truck.
As I understand it, the F-150 Lightning was the rare beast that was overengineered in the best way. Ford killed it because they figured out that they made more money making batteries for the grid, so they retooled the facilities for that.
If you bought a Lightning, don't sell it.
I wonder if people will start to use AI to replace the code once Ford drops support.
I would have loved one of the EV F150s, but I'm poor
"car"
And the following question is "Why?".
Originally the F-150 was a perfect vehicle for most of non-urban America. It was very inexpensive (not a joke), simple to fix (also not a joke), dependable (I swear I'm not trolling), and very utilitarian. Eventually it became an icon and the default purchase for many, even though the more popular models have lost all of the features that made it attractive to begin with.
It also used to be a reasonable size. Larger than sedans, bit not by nearly as much.
Oh yeah, and not five foot tall at the hood by default.
I saw an OG F-100 truck the other day. The roof of its cab is about the same height as the hood of these new monsters.
Standard issue in the toxic masculinity starter pack.
Small peepee
I don't think the article specifically addresses it, but I'd guess that their numbers account for fleet purchases, which are always going to skew the numbers a bit
There are many lists of "most popular vehicles" out there. The F-150 tops some of those lists and doesn't even appear on others. There are a lot of games one can play with specificity to make something more prominent ("Ford F-series") or less prominent ("Ram 1500 Rumble Bee") in a list like that.
But the point -- that we have more pickup trucks than can reasonably be justified -- stands.
It is interesting seeing Americans always complaining about gas prices(especially now) whilst also owning vehicles that use up fuel by just looking at them.
Its interesting people outside the US assume in a country of 300 million people that the same people buying trucks are the same people complaining about gas.
First figure I found was 725,000ish F150s sold in 2022. That only leaves 299,275,000 other people that must not complain about gas if all the complaining is done by the f150 owners.
My money is on the sales being boosted by fleet purchases of F-150's cuz its tough to find a public works department in any village, town, subarb or even city that doesnt bulk purchase Ford trucks.
Small dick energy is strong with this one
Isn't this has been #1 for like 25 or 30 years, except one year it was the Camry or something?
The two things you need to understand about America(ns)…. American is spread out. Like seriously large and open. This has lead to a lot of “super-sizing” in general. Not just their guts. Houses, cars, etc.
The second aspect is people buy for the “5% chance”, not their 95% daily habits. What I mean by this is they might have to haul something once a year, or they might end up having to take a long road trip. Rather than renting for that one day, for that one specific purpose they want something that can do it all (incidentally this is also why EVs have had a tough time catching on).
Those two points make the F150 perfectly slotted to be the most popular “car”.
The second aspect is people buy for the “5% chance”, not their 95% daily habits.
me with my roofbox I've used once. tho it's nice that it's an optional attachment to my wagon that I don't need installed 24/7, and thank fuck for that cuz the wagon it gets attached to is an EV where the aero drag does matter a bit more than in an ICE powered vehicle
Rather than renting for that one day, for that one specific purpose they want something that can do it all (incidentally this is also why EVs have had a tough time catching on).
Taycan wagon does it all for me! Highly recommend anyone who's curious about one and can afford a certified used one to definitely consider it! Take advantage of their crazy depreciation!
Tons of space, enough battery capacity given the excellent DC charging speeds, very fun, very comfy, very very pretty
No, it's because the US government works for corporations and always has.
Trucks have gotten bigger because of a concerted effort to manipulate the market by automakers for over 50 years. It started with the Chicken Tax.
Not everyone that wants a truck is dumb enough to want a big one, even in the US.
It depends on where you live
People don't realize how much of that is due to fleet sales.
cause they don’t allow cooler cars in the US anymore
Can confirm. The idiots in my state don't even allow kei trucks on the road. Farmers still import them for getting actual work done on their own land, though.
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