The plight of small pick-up trucks

The plight of small pick-up trucks in Anglo-America is deplorable. These vehicles could also be called compact trucks. Sarcastically I could also have said the blight of compact trucks.

In high school, as either a freshman or sophomore, I had told classmates that I was looking to get a Chevrolet S-10 pick-up truck. Living across from Superior Chevrolet, a Kansas City Dealer, this solution seemed to be the one obvious solution. My father had a Ford truck, but that was his truck, and I wanted something smaller and easier to park. Of course, I was more than a little naive to assume that we could afford payments on another car at the time.

While I taking a driver-education class in high school, I damaged the family sedan, thus I did not practice enough outside of class, and I did not receive a license at the end of the course. However, Sears Driving Schools exist, so eventually did I receive a license.

Of course, then I was also blissfully more ignorant of how the arrangement of a drive train, whether mounted longitudinally for rear-wheel, all-wheel, or four-wheel drive; or mounted transversely for front-wheel or all-wheel drive, affects the characteristics of a vehicle. Trucks generally use a longitudinally mounted engine and transmission driving the rear wheels; rear-wheel drive is less than ideal for winter in a continental climate, like that of Kansas.

Faring better in the winter, my current ride is a passenger car with transverse-mounted drive train and front-wheel drive. Passenger cars are generally safer than small pick-up trucks, as shown by a recent test from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Wow, I have just remembered that engines in Audi cars are longitudinally mounted and the cars feature front-wheel drive (FWD), so FWD and a longitudinally mounted drive-train are not mutually exclusive. The quattro® permanent all-wheel drive system is an option on models where quattro® is not standard equipment.

With an anecdote out of the way, the true plight of small pick-up trucks in Anglo-America, or more specifically the United States domestic market (USDM), is the lack of quality offerings in the compact-truck segment from any US-domestic manufacturer, whether Ford, GM, or Ram (formerly Dodge Trucks).

One reason for the lack of quality offerings in the compact-truck segment is that for the price one might pay for a small truck, one can easily purchase a full-size truck. On why this is fact in the USDM or what tactics are used by the US-domestic brands have enabled this condition in the market, I will not speculate. People generally buy the most vehicle that they can afford; they buy the most vehicle in size and in content (options).

On April 1, 2010, one of the circulating jokes was that Ford was going to continue the Ranger in the USDM.

Okay, I also must contrast the concept of a pick-up truck in other countries. First, on the plight of compact trucks, the other factors relate to engine technology:

• Diesel fuel is taxed more than gasoline in the U.S.
• Gasoline engines are cheaper to build.
• Gasoline engines are less complex and thus easier to maintain.
• Ever-tightening emissions standards make certifying a diesel engine difficult to impossible.

Most passenger cars on the globe are small cars, because larger vehicles make no practical sense. Parking, fuel, maintenance, and insurance are all expensive in general and more expensive for larger vehicles. Except for expressways, there is also simply no room for larger passenger vehicles on the road. A truck that Anglo-Americans would consider compact in fact is as large as a truck needs to be in most countries. Neither are people just buying trucks when cars would fit their needs just as well, unlike in the United States.

Light-duty trucks are also held to similar standards for safety as are cars in other countries. In the US, light-duty trucks have largely been exempt from the safety and emissions standards for passenger vehicles since the 1970s. Of course I must mention that trucks use a body-on-frame construction as opposed to the unitized body of passenger cars; this construction causes trucks to be more heavy and therefore less fuel efficient.

The types of configurations available for light-duty commercial vehicles in Anglo-America are also available on these compact chassis. At this point, I have to speak more specifically about certain models of truck.

From the article on Wikipedia, I have learned that the Ford Ranger sold internationally is actually developed by Mazda, so comparing the Ranger sold in Anglo-America is largely moot, but I must play the devil's advocate for the impeding sainthood of the Ranger.

If I have not clarified, when I say Anglo-America, I mean the English-speaking countries of North America, specifically Canada and the United States. Speaking culturally, then Mexico is part of Latin America, and also a country where the international Ranger is sold.

As part of its recent and future plans to remain competitive, Ford looks to leverage its global platforms. An early attempt was using the Ford Mondeo from Europe to underpin the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique in the US.

More recently, Ford has marketed its new Fiesta through the Fiesta Movement, where, for six months, each of 100 lucky agents were provided free insurance, free fuel, and a free European-spec Fiesta if they performed tasks and documented their experiences on social media. Except for some modifications to comply with US safety standards, the US-spec Ford Fiesta is the same as the international version. The US-spec Fiesta debuted last December at the LA Auto Show. The next-generation Ford Focus will also largely be identical to the international version.

Why is Ford unable to do this with the Ranger?

Competing with the Ranger in Anglo-America, the Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon are commonly believed to not be as good as the Chevy S-10 and the GMC Sonoma, which they replaced. Neither model has been available with a V6, but only underpowered inline four-cylinder and five-cylinder engines. In 2005, the Hummer H3, which shares the platform, was introduced, and in later in 2008 was finally available in Alpha trim with a V8. With declining sales and the closing of Hummer, these models will not be long for this world.

Holden, a subsidiary of GM in Australia, sells a version of the Thai-built Isuzu D-Max called the Holden Colorado. Depending on the configuration, the Holden Colorado is available with a choice of a petrol V6 or a diesel engine. In Anglo-America, diesel engines are not presently available for compact trucks.

The market for compact and mid-size trucks in the US is largely dominated by Japanese manufacturers, and they have well earned this place. Although Toyota was nearly laughed out of the market with the T100, the Toyota Tacoma has always had legendary quality and durability. Internationally the Toyota Hilux sells well, and is indestructible as Top Gear (on the BBC) has shown.

The Dodge Dakota has not been forgotten, but the Mitsubishi Raider, which shares the platform, is also fading away. Unlike the offerings of Ford and GM for a mid-size pick-up, the Dakota was available with a V8. Chrysler is considering a unibody construction for the Dakota replacement, like that used by the Honda Ridgeline.

Another successful Japanese truck, the Nissan Frontier is now also available as the Suzuki Equator, so room in market exists for more foreign competition.

A manufacturer based in India, Mahindra has sold quality compact tractors and attachments in the US for many years. Now Mahindra looks to sell compact trucks powered by diesel engines, but their entry into the USDM has been delayed due to the process of certifying their diesels.

A market for compact trucks will continue to exist as long as people have a need for the capabilities of a pick-up with better fuel economy and less bulk than full-size trucks. Although an increase in large truck sales may signal recovery for the economy, fuel prices spiked in 2008 and likely will soon climb again, so the conditions exist for the pick-up truck in Anglo-America to become more like the pick-up trucks in the rest of the world. Perhaps soon the state of the small pick-up truck in Anglo-America will not be so deplorable, like your girlfriend.