Size Matters: Why People Buy Pickups

Today, many Americans choose not high-tech Japanese cars and not well-made German ones but American SUVs and trucks. These impressive vehicles gained unprecedented popularity and distribution on the roads because they are not only transport but also self-expression.

Some Statistics
Looking at modern Ford, Chevrolet, and Jeep pickup trucks, it is hard to imagine that their ancestor back in 1961 was the Volkswagen Golf Pickup. Then, after the resounding success of the Beetle, Volkswagen could afford to experiment. However, American manufacturers soon seized the initiative. Today, the total number of pickups sold in the US is more than 5 million per year and almost 40% of the total number of vehicles. The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado are the bestsellers today and outperform even the famous Honda Accord and Ford Taurus. The production of these pickups is 1 million units per year.

Who Prefers to Buy Off-Roaders
The experts from the Indy Auto Man dealership explain that among their customers, pickup owners can be conditionally divided into four groups:

Mature successful people 40-50 years old. They can afford almost any car but prefer charged SUVs and pickups. Sometimes their preferences even go to extremes like duallys.
20-30-year-old citizens of big cities like Indianapolis who are not so wealthy but strive for self-expression. Their vehicles are copies of cars of the first category, reduced in size and cost.
The third group is families with children and those who spend weekends outside the city and need a capable and spacious vehicle for long trips.
The last group includes people who use a pickup truck for business.

Main Types of Pickups
All pickup trucks can also be divided into four categories, although they do not always coincide with the categories of buyers.

Pickups with a 2-seater cab and an open body. The cabin of such cars is not inferior in comfort to a high-class sedan, while the body is quite simple and is a steel box.
Full-size pickup trucks. For the past twenty years, their sales have been at the level of 1.5 million units a year. Previously, their main area of application was the military-industrial complex, where their carrying capacity (more than 1 ton) and cross-country ability were in demand. And only in recent years, the world has been swept by a wave of monster pickups. Many celebrities, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Clancy, now use a former Hummer military vehicle as a means of transportation.
In the third place, there are mid-size pickups like Chevrolet Blazer and Jeep Cherokee. After the oil crisis, big American cars were almost outlawed due to excessive fuel consumption. Small pickups became the way out of this situation. They were not covered by the Fuel Restriction Act, as they were oriented primarily to business use. However, they remained quite powerful.
The fourth group of vehicles has no special historical or economic background. They are not adapted to harsh conditions, but they are quite suitable for trips to the beach. When a person has almost everything – a house, work, trips 2-3 times a year, it is rather difficult to stand out among the same representatives of this class. So it is a good idea to buy and paint in all colors of the rainbow the Suzuki Samurai, or its relative – GM Geo Tracker.

Why Buying a Truck Is a Good Idea
A vehicle with well-defined functionality always becomes a hostage to limitations. For example, while driving a small car like Opel Corsa, you involuntarily think: what if you come across a swamp or a pipe across the road? Also, many travelers have boats, camping tents, and other large items that are not so easy to fit in station wagons. Thus, when buying a truck, the consumer solves the “what if” problem and can calmly look at the cars passing by from the height of, say, a frame Chevrolet Tahoe.

Versatility is the main advantage and a decisive factor in buying a pickup truck. It will be able to transport the owner and his friends not only around the city but also off-road. Today, pickups often serve as a second and even the only car for people far from transporting goods.