Why Americans Are OBSESSED With Trucks 

I’m an immigrant. My brother saved his money and instead of buying sensibly he got a fricken Dodge Ram. I asked him why and he said “Because he’s American now”

I hate that sedans are being cut or ignored by MOST major vehicle brands.

I feel like trucks are kind of like gore-tex: in certain situations they are necessary, but overkill for most people.

One of the memorable lines that I found while reading a car review article was from the Ford maverick review which said “it hauls air as well as the f-150” and deep down, I couldn’t agree more.

As a non American this is a culture shock to me. Even after watching this video I'm still scratching my head at this truck obsession.

Another big change is that trucks have gotten way more comfortable. Most older trucks had really firm suspension that was meant to carry heavy loads and take a beating. As a result, the ride quality of older trucks was terrible. Nobody really wanted to drive trucks as commuter vehicles because they just kind of sucked to drive. Nowadays, trucks, particularly in the half-ton segment, have ridiculously plush suspension and ride just as well as any other vehicle on the road. As a consequence, they're really not well suited for carrying heavy loads or towing big trailers. The introduction of double cab trucks also made a huge difference. Prior to that you either had no back seat or a back seat that was so tiny only children could actually fit in it. Now you can pretty much have mini-van level spaciousness in a truck. I think the combination of these things made them really popular with the suburban upper-middle class demographic because you could basically have a comfortable vehicle to haul your kids around in while looking like a rugged blue-collar person

"Some trucks just fall apart." Dodge ram second gen: *nervous sweating*

True freedom and individualism is everyone buying the same unnecessary thing.

I live in Canada where vehicule culture is quite similar to the USA and here are few things that surprises me: -A pickup towing something else than a boat or a camper. -More than 2 people getting out of a car that aren't in the same family. -People actually using motorcycles as an everyday vehicle outside of winter. -A group of friends on bicycles not in polyester/spandex clothing but only going somewhere to do stuff. -A 2 seater pickup truck. -A scratched, bumped, worn pickup. All normal things when you think about it but that are unusual for North America.

It's surreal looking around a parking lot and seeing how enormous new vehicles are compared to everything from the 90s-early 2000s. A lot of them don't even readily fit inside regular parking spaces.

I work as a valet at a major airport in Texas and the amount of trucks we get pisses me off, the amount of f250’s and massive Rams we get and you can tell the owners use the beds once a year, basically just a pavement princess. And having to fit a f250 in a small parking garage into normal parking spots takes a lot of doing.

Coming from a person who raises cattle, thank you to the office people for making trucks way more expensive than reasonable.

Older trucks used to last for a while. My cousin had an old ford truck (made from steel) that got to over 500k miles before the engine basically fell apart. Before that he never really took care of it. We use trucks because we do minor home remodels/upgrades/refurnishing fairly often so hauling a few thousand pounds of rocks, fertilizer, flooring, tiles etc. aren’t too uncommon. This and camping are the main reasons we have a truck.

This helps explain why my wife's 2006 Tacoma sold for freaking $7K last year. I know that the shortage of used vehicles raised that price, but still, absolutely wild for a 15 year old vehicle. That truck covered the closing costs on our house.

Most of pickup truck in USA are city dweller and "Pathway Queen" the owners rarely do towing and off-roading stuff

I've gotten a lot of push back from family and friends when I talk about having the vehicle that works for 90% of my needs and then renting when I need to haul something or if I need the space for people. It seems like a natural thing to do, but so many of us have the vehicle that represents who we want to be or what we need for our one vacation a year. I don't get it, it's way too expensive to get fuel and get the truck/large SUV to drive around your empty truck bed or single passenger.

Nothing quite like getting a Chevy Silverado ad in the middle of this. 😮‍💨👌

I can definitely see it as a North American thing. When I traveled over seas to several European and South East Asian countries, I don't see as many big trucks; And when there were trucks, most of the time they tend to be smaller than what North Americans are used to. One of my guesses is because of population density. Which makes me believe in the future we will probably want smaller cars/trucks.

I grew up in farmland where everyone had a truck for working on the farm and hunting. Those things were beat to hell and back but kept on ticking. I had friends who were driving around trucks older than they were. Now I live in the city and all I see are these massive beasts that look like they were bought just that day. They clearly aren't actually used as trucks and the people driving them act like they are these fragile things that must be babied. You constantly see them parked across four spaces in parking lots because they don't want a single bit of paint transfer. And those same people are often buying a new model every couple years. It's wild to see the difference in truck culture, that for some it's a tool and for others a status symbol.

In the last years huge American trucks started appearing in France even though they're not adapted for our streets, they're a status thing like the G-wagon but more exotic.

In parking it's always a joy to watch a truck struggle to park.

Thank you soooo much for addressing this topic - over the last couple of years, I've wondered what's with the explosion of trucks on the road? Is it just status? Is there a tax incentive I don't know about? How are all these people affording gas right now?!

I own two vehicles. A newer compact sedan and a mid-90s pickup truck. A large majority of the time, the trucks sits my back yard and I only use it when I need it, such as hauling my tools around for a job or picking up large things from the hardware store, or whenever I need to haul something that won't fit in my car. Otherwise, my compact sedan is the car is use pretty much all the time. There was a time when a pickup truck was my only vehicle and I regret it and all the waste associated with that, but namely my income at the time. But, having driven both newer trucks and older trucks, I much prefer older trucks because they feel solid and feel like they were built for work. Newer trucks feel like they're going to fall apart if you take them off the highway. In my rural area, all the shade-tree mechanics use their old 1980s pickup trucks to tow newer 2010s+ trucks because for whatever reason, the new trucks just break. Whenever my dad sees an old 70's or 80's truck towing a brand new truck, his remark is always, "They just don't build them like they used to."

Its also worth noting that light trucks like suvs and f150s face much more lax emission standards than other vehicles. Car companies save loads of money by only making light trucks and making you think massive, inefficient, and extremely unsafe vehicles are desirable. And my favorite part, you can't even transport a sheet of drywall in an f150c without it cracking on the wheel well.

It's worth noting that, although certain MODELS of pickup trucks top the charts, this is largely due to having a significantly lower variety of choices to dilute the market share. There's around 3x as many crossover style SUVs sold in the US compared to pickup trucks, so they're not even close to being the plurality. They're absolutely an important segment to the market as a distant #2, but they're nowhere close to dominating the automotive market like certain phrasing of statistics might imply.

I can understand some people really need a truck like that but if you don’t need to haul stuff they are incredibly expensive and poor energy efficiency.

Dodge really pulled the wool over consumers eyes. Sell a product that looks tough but is made with the quality control of a $5 Chinese toaster.

Part of the problem is that the manufacturers have turned trucks into luxury vehicles ( with prices to match), instead of keeping them as work vehicles. They keep putting in more cameras, sensors, automatic systems, infotainment systems, etc…and try to sell them to suburban people as “ refined” vehicles. I hate most of the “ techie” stuff, and won’t buy a new vehicle because of it. The Ford Maverick came out as a small, affordable, urban style pickup truck….but they have made it bigger, more expensive, and added more tech….and now it’s just another small overpriced, over rated vehicle.

Some people need a pickup truck for a practical reason. However, I’ve observed that most people with pickup trucks must have them only for the “rugged” or “cool” image they think it will project for them, perhaps to compensate for personal insecurity. I like to recall the day I arrived at work and exclaimed that, on my way to work, I was amazed to see a pickup truck that was actually hauling something.

Here in Kuwait, American full-sized trucks are mostly favored by teens and young adults who like to terrorize drivers and bystanders on the road. Their reputation is so bad that coppers always keep an eye on their drivers. Adult men favor Toyota or Lexus SUV's, and these are extremely popular nationwide.

Also for the 1994 Ram, there's another reason the ram that was drilled into the minds of people everywhere that summer, courtesy of the movie Twister, the hero car was said truck. I recall visiting family in Mexico in a city where an assembly plant for Chrysler that specifically built the truck was located at. Company paid movie nights going out to see the red truck do it's thing where a thing during the summer, IIRC they even paid a specific movie theatre to project the movie a bit after it had finished it's run, just to keep that perk up.

Not just in America! These things has made landfall across the Pacific in Asia. "Massive" is an understatement compared to Japanese cars, or even motorcycles around here. There aren't that many but their big size surely influence local manufacturers to also build bigger, bulkier version of usual vehicles every year (i call them SUV-zation)

I had a truck for over a year (Funnily enough, a Ford F-150) I just traded it in for a Subaru Crosstrek because of the rising gas prices. It was almost $200 to fill the tank from empty to full.

It's a conscious effort, manufacturers are making increasingly worse sedans, vans, smaller SUVs to skirt regulations that don't apply to trucks and SUVs and to sell more expensive larger vehicles. If I wanted a smaller but still capable vehicle to go off roading or hunting in the late 90s, I could go get an XJ, K5 Blazer, Bronco, or something like that. Nowadays the cheapest option would be a truck. Actually capable subcompact/compact SUVs don't exist anymore, and the capable SUVs left are ever increasingly being pushed into the luxury market by manufactuers, leaving only trucks. Even the used market is crazy with prices. And when you factor in insurance, trucks simply end up being way cheaper nowadays, that's definitely a big reason I can see why they're so popular in the US and Canada.

Please do elaborate on the EV problem in one of the next video's! Like you did with the electrical bickes.

Canadians are obsessed with trucks too. I live in northern BC and how are you going to haul your toys like a quad, side-by-side, sled, boat, 5th wheel, horse trailer, moose, etc unless you have a truck?? 😆 Full disclosure: I drive a Subaru. Husband has a 2009 2WD Tacoma because (I quote): "why spend money on a 4x4 for winter when you can use the money you saved to buy top-rated snow tires?" Well, he's proven that his strategy works so far! And it provides everything we need for our little rural property. No toys required (except for a John Deere ride-on for lawn mowing and snow plowing). I would love for a video on the evolution of quads/4-wheelers and side-by-sides. Heck, we had a 'trike" for bush work when I first graduated from UBC and worked for a forestry consultant - That could be a fun episode. Thanks for the great content and videos! I usually learn something new from every episode. 😊

I wish you had talked more about the negative exterbalities of trucks such as the fact that they are both several times more likely to hit pedestrians and several times more likely to kill pedestrians when they inevitably are hit.

I live in the mountains and they're quite practical here. About half the vehicles here are either Subarus or pickups for their obvious AWD/4WD capabilities. These new high level trim trucks are pretty ridiculous in price and features and do make up a portion of the pavement princesses, but a lot of people still use their trucks to tow and haul. The working man hasn't disappeared yet.

Well, for one thing, they stopped making full-sized RWD sedans so people like me got pushed into buying trucks. I don't mind because I like the Ford F-Series.

Theres a lot more that can be said about the effects of the popularity of trucks not just in terms of climate change but also just urbanism, lethality of car crashes and car culture, as massive trucks could only become this popular in a country so built around cars, and in turn they force parking spaces and the like to be able to accommodate these needlessly huge vehicles

I switched from a mid size pick up truck to a hybrid SUV earlier this year and tbh I couldn’t be happier lol

I wonder what the breakdown would be if you took SUV's out of the light truck category.

I use my truck all the time. I’m always hauling a trailer with it. I don’t have it as a status symbol and us “work truck” owners don’t have them as a just to have them. It’s really really funny seeing those guys who deck out their little f-150s with lift kits and big tires. Can’t haul better with those! lol

I saw an article that most Americans don’t use their truck to pull a trailer more than once a year and honestly from what I see that’s true. We have two trucks (3500 dually, and an old dodge ramcharger) and the latter of the two despite being an 80s SUV truck with a non removable top still is put to work pulling trailers(smaller ones, like the wood chipper and camper, no gooseneck) more than alot of people who own modern 2500s. Modern 1500s are more like the land yachts from the 60s and 70s before the oil crisis than light to medium duty work vehicles. Most modern trucks have more cab than bed and honestly 5 foot beds were a mistake. People give me shit for thinking these luxury pickups like mega cabs and stuff are stupid because “You never owned one” or “You don’t have a large family”. We had a mega cab 06 and it was stupid impractical so we got another dakota (5th one) and it was way better, family of 7 and the minivan is fine. If you have a larger travel trailer and a large family you should get a suburban or a Yukon but don’t get a 1500 because they just don’t makes sense.

Here in the Philippines, I've noticed that smaller (or Asian) pick-ups trucks like Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, etc. are getting bigger and they are increasing, to the point that there is now a culture or group of pick-up owners especially the modified ones.

Damn i just got a truck ad when I opened this. Anyways, I just wanted to add that the popularity of American trucks probably was helped with the import limitations placed on foreign automakers, since the domestic market was losing a ton of buyers to Toyota, Datsun/Nissan, Volkswagen, and the others.

I didn't get them at first either as an immigrant, but boy do they grow on you. Especially if you work in the trades and only have one vehicle that does everything. I used mine 2019 Silverado for work, camping, offroading, hunting, and casual driving. And 4x4 and high ground clearance is so nice to have when roads are covered in 6in of snow

It's a status symbol thing for sure. People don't want to drive something practical or safe for everyone, they want to drive something that keeps them slightly more safe on collision, but maims anyone else they hit, but also increases their own chances of dying in a rollover. Americanism at it's finest

I don´t even understand trucks as work vehicles. At a jobsite your professional tools might be worth more than your car, so just leaving them in a truckbed for anyone to see and steal seems unreasonable. And if you get a bed cover you´ve basically halved your cargo volume.

I'm Italian and I'm not going to be brutal on this issue. I might be on others, not this one. Here in Italy we have a problem with SUVs. Especially those driven by well-off ladies (remember that a SUV in Italy costs much more and is really fuel-inefficient, compared to one of those micro cars) in large cities, especially Milan. They are perfectly useless status symbols and very much hated also because those higher-middle-class women usually don't know how to drive/park them or don't care, they drop them on the pavement for everybody else to walk around. That said, if I lived in the countryside, I would probably own a pick-up or a jeep. I'm a big, big guy and those cars are definitely more comfortable than those very sleek but also very compact coupés. They would also give me that rugged-cowboy-vibe that I don't mind. But I would buy a normal one, not a bombastic, petrol-guzzling monster.

I live in Europe and have been across the world including the USA. And apart from the United States, every single other nation the only people with pick ups are some farmers and like tree surgeons, something specifically where a pick up makes sense and they are normally hilux's.

Pickup trucks are the most versatile vehicle ever. I own a RAM that I bought years ago because work needs, nowadays I work in a computer but I kept the truck, is a 3rd Gen RAM with close to 250K miles on the odometer, that looks and drive like new, we have other newer vehicles but my favorite is the truck, we use it for a variety of things that could not be possible with other kind of vehicle.

I have had several 2500 and 3500 trucks with 8ft boxes. When I bought my first 1500 with a 6ft box, I realized that it was a replacement for the large real wheel drive V8 sedan of the 1950s to the 1980s. That is why people don't care about having the 5ft box. If the large V8 sedan was kept we would have saved a lot of gas. Nobody wants a 4 cylinder 1.5 litre fwd sedan. When I retire I'll go to Florida and buy a 70s Chevelle, LeMans or Cutlass because I loved driving those cars and I am never going to buy an EV.

I got a minivan with a hitch and a used $200 5x7 utility trailer. Hauls everything I need.

They just keep getting bigger and more expensive while loans get longer. If it is about freedom and liberty then why is it ok for a loan on something that can get totaled in a crash at anytime take up to 10 years to pay off?!

This is an interesting though, I purchased a 12 year old dodge ram with 210k miles on it a few years ago because its mad easy to repair. And its nice to be able to haul stuff to my house like a load of mulch or some wood to repair my deck. I didn't go for a 4wd because they are much harder to repair. The other day my starter went out. Took me 15 minutes to replace in a parking lot. My previous Honda Accord would have taken me at least twice as long or more to replace. Plus I don't feel like a soccer mom in a suburban is going to plow me over because someone on twitter said something nasty about her dumb as rock kids...(minivans are big when you drive a roller skate). All round it is not bad, its not fancy and I live close to work so I am not paying much in gas. I'll bet I'll drive this thing to 500K+ miles and do most of the car work myself. I have already replaced starters, compressors, alternators, and more... I am not into big exhaust or lift kits or anything of that sort. I just want a car I can repair myself, and gets me from point A to point B, not something you can say about most modern cars of the Era! Find me a Toyota hybrid or Tesla or even a modern Ram, still running strong after 500K+ miles! Maybe its because I'm an engineer and can fix pretty much god damn anything! I am not sure. I agree though I see way more cunts(both men and women) driving around big ass cars these days, just because its a status symbol. But modern trucks are mostly shit now so their owners can't even change their own ball joints if they wanted without paying thousands of dollars! So I do sort of agree and sort of disagree. We live in crazy times. Thanks for the video!

the automakers have figured out, if they take what used to be options that nobody wanted & make them standard on new trucks, fools will pay an additional 25k for a truck full of bullsh•t features they would NEVER order in a work truck.

I drive a full size Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab 4x4 at my job. The last thing I want to drive after a shift is another lumbering pickup truck! I love my little subcompact!

Larger vehicles can also be used as a write off as a business expense so I feel like that may be playing a role here

When the RU-vid ad is for a Silverado 🗿

Banks see huge 72, 84, even 96 month loans for these things every day. And then those who get them sit around wondering why they're broke, still paying rent and can't afford a house 😂🤦‍♂️

I’m still trying to figure out why domestic car makers have stopped making cars altogether. In Canada anyway, the only ford car you can buy is a mustang, the only dodge car, a challenger. If you wanna live life “a quarter mile at a time” then muscle cars is the way to go but it’s upsetting to me that if you don’t want “American muscle”, you need yo buy a big ass truck. Despite all I said, I still love trucks but I don’t love this truck only trend by car manufacturers.

When my 2000 Tacoma got rear-ended and had to go in for a lengthy repairs, the rental I was given was a brand new F-150. That thing was so impractically high off the ground I didn't see how anybody could load the bed in any kind of efficient manner, you needed a step stool just to get up into it. I guess manufacturers have come to learn that people just simply want something big to drive, not necessarily something that is really even utilitarian. Heck, you hardly ever even see anything hauled in the back of modern trucks anymore.

A bunch of trucks driving 80mph in the left lane. Death machines

Ive always was obssesed with 2 door coupe cars. My 1st car I bought in high school was a 97' Prelude (Bought in 2013). Then while in the military I bought a Hyundai Genesis. After leaving the military a Scion FRS in 2019. This year I bought a 4 door Tacoma. I absolutely LOVE having a truck. I still have my FRS that I daily though.

Love my 4runner truck. Broke my old CRV axle because potholes that never get fixed just continue to get bigger and bigger. 90k miles later on my runner it is a beast to drive. 😎

For me , unless your on the land in some way {farmer etc} then these are simply vanity, status symbols, here in Australia they are looked upon with scorn in the cities, metro areas. SUV's, Crossovers etc rule here.

As a former valet, we hate those damn trucks.

the pickup truck is just obnoxious these days. If you are using it for intended purpose good for you.

The truck fetish started in the 70s with a quick rise in car prices and an exemption to safety standards resulting in trucks as cheap transportation. Big cars went away. Aging boomers wanted a living room sofa/rocking chair and a slushy ride. They also continued to think in terms of dollars spent per pound of vehicle. The truck became the modern land yacht. As dealers made ridiculous profits on trucks they pushed them even harder. Every time I have seen $4.00 a gallon gas in this area I see for sale signs on trucks. The old timers need ladders to get into them and take up 2 spaces in the parking lot. And most of them rust away.

We all know people buying $100K trucks and almost never use the bed, almost never take off road… and spend more than half of their income to drive it 1,5hrs a day 😂 very bright

Where I live we look completely differently at people who drive a pickup truck. They're probably the drivers people look down on the most. They take up too much space on the road and they require more space to park. So it takes away the space of other people. So pickups are very rarely seen here

Here in The Netherlands there is slow rise of trucks year by year. In the country where trucks are even more useless since most cities are small/tight and don't have space for Dodge Rams and stuff like that. I hope the current rise in bezine prices will kill it before it gets out of hand.

Yeah as a Navy guy, trucks are super obnoxious. Every Navy base has extremely limited parking, and every other sailor thinks they need the biggest truck available. Then they lift it, put huge tires, a massive bumper, and a 4 foot tow hitch on it. They become so wide that they take 1.5 parking spots and so long that they cut several feet off the spot behind them. I also guaranteed 90% of these people have never needed to do anything a smaller truck couldn't do...

Going through the honeymoon phase with this channel. Just discovered it and watching so many videos. I don’t agree/align my thinking with a majority of the ideas presented, but it’s still interesting!

Great video! Would love to see you and the team tackle Ziploc's recently released 'Compostable bags' and the potential implications/truths about truly biodegradable food storage containers/bags.

Any chance you can do a video on Subaru? They’ve claimed they’ve donated to land conservation, helped communities, give to hospitals, etc And I wonder how much of it is true. a huge fan of them and was just curious

The "lifestyle" fad will pass eventually, but there will always be a need to tow trailers, haul loads and go off road. It's a personal choice, people should be free to drive want they want without unwarranted judgement.

What is so frustrating is that all the big manufacturers have been telling the car/truck purchasing public that no one really wants small vehicles and that they are just building what is really selling. The truth is that the companies all make more money on bigger vehicles, and they don't want to build small cars and trucks. They claim they cannot make money on smaller trucks which is total BS. When Ford announced that they were bringing back the Ranger a lot of people were excited to see that a new version of the very well-liked and loved compact Ranger was coming back. But when the new Ranger was finally revealed it was a big disappointment and pissed a lot of the small truck fans off. The new Ranger is the size of the old full-sized trucks which they now look tiny compared to the behemoths that Ford Chey GMC and Ram are pushing on everyone. And while the new Maverick and other vehicles like it are a nice thing to see being built, they are not true pickups and are considered lifestyle vehicles whatever that is supposed to mean. Just bring back the old compact and subcompact sized trucks, they would sell very well if given a chance and marketed correctly.

You could have phrased it differently, like mentioned it being many or some Americans, because you just generalized all Americans. Some of them prefer sports cars or SUVs over trucks.

I’m from Berlin Germany and I can count on one hand how many times I've seen a truck like this in my hole life hahah😂

My first car was a 95 Ranger, and I loved that thing. A 4-cylinder light duty pick-up I could help friends move apartments with, sit in the tailgate or the bed and hang out, it was a mobile hangout spot. Ford discontinued the Ranger, then brought it back at the same size as the F150s used to be. Awful gas mileage, overpriced, and they just get bigger and more expensive and SOOOOO much worse for the planet. I used to own a truck, now I ride a bike.

These big "cars" do not belong to the cities. It should be banned. Only ones allowed should be the practical ones for carrying things or many people which are called vans. EG. Wolkswagen Transporter, Ford Transit.

"I drive something that's bigger, taller, and more powerful than you so I'M more powerful than you"

Being a big truck owner myself, I did probably go overkill with the size of my pickup truck, getting a 5.7 hemi engine. I haven’t driven it much tho, only using it when I have to haul a lot of plywood, dirt, bricks etc for home projects. Hauling a bed full of dirt tanks my fuel economy to about 6mpg which is horrible. I don’t feel too bad about it though, my dad bought it to haul our old pontoon boat so the purchase seemed certainly reasonable

I heard that car companies are pushing the sales of trucks and SUVs more than sedans nowadays because the parts are so expensive now (ie. chips) that they would rather make more of the bigger vehicles to make more money rather than the small ones

I would love to see a video on the EV industry. I had a friend who recently bought a car and originally was wanting to get an EV or Hybrid but didn't because she said the current ones are crazy expensive to fix and in my state we don't have the charging infrastructure to make them reasonable if you can't charge it at your house (or solar pannels I guess)

I think what you are also missing is how rural communities still use trucks as they were intended. Most of the people that I know who own them, own them specifically to go off-roading, muddin', and to haul things for themselves and friends. There are so many things that they do not because of it being a status symbol, though I do know a couple of people that would like a truck for that reason. Currently I live in a city, and I have seen maybe five trucks in the last two years that wasn't obviously here during university move in times. I'm not personally a truck person, but I do see the appeal of having a truck in the context to which I grew up in

Listen I don't care what vehicle you buy as long as it's suited for where you are. If you live in the city you ain't haulin or doing shit with a truck unless you're in the field for it. Where I live is very rural, and even in my birth province of Saskatchewan you will see trucks. This is because we do a lot of farm and field work there, not to mention the terrain is suited for a truck. But if you buy a truck, just keep it a classic or an older truck, don't ever buy that new garbage.

Also Australia 🇦🇺 Is The Only Left Side Driving Country That Has Full Size American Style Pickup Trucks

The whole notion of a truck obsession is a bit overblown. The number one selling individual model is a full-size pickup, but each brand only has ONE model of full-size pickup. Meanwhile each has a couple different sedans up and down the price scale and a ton of crossovers, plus one or two full-size SUVs. When you break it down by classes crossovers dominate at 45% but effectively most of those are station wagons pretending to be trucks for tax reasons and are unibody lightweights like these new compact pickups. Sedans, taken as a whole, basically tie pickups for sales, there's just a huge variety of choices in that segment so no one model dominates (although the Corolla is the number 3 overall model). So while it's disproportionate compared to the rest of the world, it's not nearly that out-of-proportion.

The major difference between the US and Europe is the Truck by Dodge and David by Michelangelo.

Haven't owned a truck since my f150 took a crap. Now I own a Honda oddessey minivan and two acuras. I do drive the company truck for work but no longer own one. I never really cared for bulky trucks to begin with.

They want to look cool in their big off road truck waiting in McDonalds drive thur, that’s about as close to off roading they’ll ever get, they may even go to Lowe’s and get a bag of mulch

I live in a small Arizona town and I own an '80s compact pickup. For a while she was my daily driver until the engine overheated. She's as basic as they come. Manual locks, crank windows, cloth bench seat, vinyl floors; the automatic transmission's just about the only "luxury" she comes with. No fancy ABS, no airbags, no color touchscreen dash, not even a tachometer. You literally CANNOT buy a truck like that in America anymore; because the government has basically regulated them out of existence and wider consumer preference towards more "upscale" trim levels put the basic work truck on the endangered species list. As the government mandates new safety features, consumers demand more "luxurious" trucks, and new active driver assistance technologies creep closer to becoming the next government mandate; this has three effects on not just pickup trucks, but all cars in general. They get bigger (in size and weight), they get more expensive, and they become harder to self-maintain. To put in perspective, the Ford Maverick is the smallest pickup truck you can buy in the US right now. It's still wider and taller than my truck. The only reason mine is longer is due to its long bed. It's also far more expensive; even if adjusted for inflation. The point about self-maintenance is especially damning these days. As they keep putting more and more computers in cars (ABS, lane keep assist, touchscreens, automatic braking, etc.), it seems like it's becoming almost a requirement to learn at least some form of programming just to work on your own car. And since everything is interconnected; if one little thing goes awry the whole thing can cascade to the point where a car is no longer driveable. As trucks get more complex and more luxurious; it's becoming nigh-impossible to find a no-frills work truck. Single cabs are quickly becmong extinct in the American market. As trucks become more and more of a luxury commodity, even their more basic models lose some form of practicality to appease those other buyers. In short; the truck market seems to be abandoning its core demographic more and more by the day. And as newer trucks become less practical and more complex; no wonder the prices for old ones are skyrocketing. My truck doesn't even RUN, and last month someone offered me $5k for her.

The biggest reason is that a number of men buy trucks to prop up their manhood, not because it's American. It makes sense to buy a truck if you need one, but roughly 2/3rds of pickup trucks are never used for towing or hauling -- so image is the main reason. This isn't so unusual since men have been buying large sedans and expensive sports cars for decades to feel successful.

I went from driving a 2006 silverado 1500 to my 03 civic si and ive never been happier. Same reliability, but better mpg, way more fun, easier to navigate and park

Canadian guy forgot to mention the frozen chicken tax. It's the #1 reason why we have so many trucks.

In Australia we have a similar but slightly different culture on Pick-up trucks, (we call them Utes, short for Utility). Large F150+ size vehicles are rarer here but definitely around. Most of our main utility vehicles are in the 1-tonner range, though almost always 4wd unless used commercially. Over the last 10 years though, utes have gotten way larger, getting closer to the F150 size. Things like the Ford Ranger, Nissan Patrol and Navara, Toyota LandCruiser and Hilux, and Mitsubishi Triton are what you'll find around.

The reason is simple, why buy multiple vehicles to do specific roles when you can buy one vehicle that does it all? It didn't used to be like that, it used to be an utility vehicle you bought for working, hauling, needing a rugged sturdy chassis vehicle that could go anywhere. It wasn't comfortable, all it had for you to choose was what engine to tow your stuff, and how large a bed? Eventually it changed to have horrible seats, to a crew cab designed just to get your co-workers to the jobsite nothing more, to being able to do it all. The truck pushed out the sedan as the primary vehicle, because it just did everything what people wanted to do with it. If the truck didn't, the SUV built off said trucks would instead replace the sedan. The SUV would pick up more people in it, store their belongings inside the vehicle, be more comfortable for everyone involved, and could be daily driven comfortably. The truck could do all the other tasks, pick up appliances, haul trash, do some off-roading, but also now pick up the kids from school with the extra seats. It had options to it to make it comfortable to the driver, and it drove really nice. Where you may have bought the sedan to carry your kids from school or to places, you could just use a truck. If you need more seats you buy the SUV, if you don't you buy a truck. Because in an age where you don't have quite as many kids per household, you don't need dedicated family movers, you get to have all rounders that fit every role. Maybe not as good in every way, but even at their worst role, they are still serviceable for it. The truck is the all rounder that does it all, and replaced the specifics. We aren't obsessed with trucks, just they make the most sense for the American people to buy next to the SUV. Because in a land where you may need to move appliances you buy yourself, haul your own trash, and take your own vehicle to work, it fits the roles. It ticks all the boxes. As they get more efficient, they displace even the more gas efficient sedans and coupes of the past. The former cars people would buy over a truck, because they didn't need everything the truck offered and what it didn't. Now it just does what they need, and can offer it's purpose when on occasion they need that too. Not everyone needs to tow, but it can do it. Not everyone needs to get new appliances often enough to facilitate needing a decent sized bed to load them on, but it can do it. Not everyone needs to pick up 3 kids from school in a backseat with 2 extra doors on the vehicle, but it can now. Not everyone needs to go off-road or in rough conditions, but it can do it. Everything that could be needed, it can likely be accomplished with a truck now. So for the people who have to do things themselves and buy a vehicle that makes sense for most everything they do, they buy a truck or the SUV. That or have both, and now every necessary base is covered. Other places in the world can do other things, take a train for commuting or walk, have things easily delivered to your door no charge at set times that work for you (and are on time for real), and have infrastructure everywhere that make needing ruggedness less necessary. But here, the general purpose machine called a truck is a daily appliance that every family likes to have. Because if not, you at least know someone who has one, and they often are willing to let you borrow it. It's a commonplace accessory to your life or to others, that just makes life simpler. Is it a good thing they're so common? I don't know. I find it boring that every vehicle I see is an SUV or a truck as I drive my little Miata's and Del Sol's, wishing for the 1990's again for cars, but it's at least easier on people. That everything they need, they don't need yet another vehicle. They can just live life, with less barriers or complexities of who is picking up the kids. Who has to do this or that. Whatever they need their truck will just do. That once it's days are done for that family, it'll go on, serve another, and keep being used. Never going out of service until it's incapable of providing said servitude. Because in the end, the truck is still a tool of utility, just of life as a whole instead of work.