The Reasons why Pickup Trucks are Getting Bigger and Looking Meaner

Unfortunately, houses and driveways are getting smaller…

In Australia, where my family and I live, we are noticing a big change in the types of vehicles being crammed into the humble suburban driveway.

Once the domain of the “average” family four-door sedan or station wagon, this narrow vehicle road is now home to a monstrous dual-cab 4-wheel drive with a flat tray behind. We have seen townhouses, with inhabitants breathing in as they struggle to squeeze between these vehicles and their front doors. Their garage doors are permanently closed, as their interiors are clearly designed for smaller carriages.

This leads me to think: why are these massive trucks so popular in Australia (in 2022, these dominated the top ten best-selling vehicles, including coming in at 1 and 2)?

This is very like the US, where the top-3 were intimidating-looking pickups such as the Ford F-series, the Chevy Silverado, and the Ram Pickup.

Why the humble pickup grew up

As recently as the 1990s, pickup trucks and utilities (or “utes”, as they are known here in Australia where my family and I live), were the domain of workers in the building, plumbing, and electrical industries, as their rear trays had plenty of room for their ladders, cables and other tools of their trades, which were squeezed into large metal boxes bolted to the floors of these trays.

The cabs usually sat two, with the primary occupant looking somewhat like this:

However, as time went on, it wasn’t only tradespeople (or “tradies” as they are known here in Australia) who were keen on these types of vehicles — families were also demanding them, and the types of pickup trucks that were demanded sat four, otherwise known as “crew cabs”.

As a result, vehicle manufacturers catered to these tastes, which increasingly went in the direction of “enormous is better”.

The reasons why

Tough image

One of the reasons why these vehicles have become so large has nothing to do with the requirements of the modern family — it has more to do with the requirements of the modern guy's ego.

If a (perhaps) single guy was invited to a mate’s wedding and wanted to make a grand entrance at the reception, what would be the vehicle of choice, a 2022 Toyota Corolla or a towering charcoal Toyota Hylux 4 X 4 “ute”? The enticing towbar would then entice conversations in the direction of what the armoured car usually towed at weekends, ranging from small iron boats (“tinnies” in Australia) used for some lazy fishing, to the more adventurous, such as seaside tranquility-ending jet-skis and monstrous watercraft even larger than the vehicle towing them…

Larger towing capacity

The vehicle-purchasing public is increasingly in need of something that not only tows boats but also horse floats and caravans.

It is interesting that the humble caravan is increasingly morphing into something heavier and monstrous, and it may have something to do with not the family, but this demographic…

In Australia, more and more retirees are choosing to rent out the family home, then jump into an intimidating-looking 4 x 4 ute which is towing an equally intimidating mobile residence, then head in the general direction of the Nullarbor Plain. They are affectionally known as “grey nomads”.

The bigger they are, the safer they are…

It has long been important when purchasing a family vehicle, to buy something that is very safe.

Due to their impressive size, 4 x 4 pickups not only give this impression (most have impregnable-looking front bars) — “kangaroos just bounce right off”, but it is a fact more road fatalities occur in smaller vehicles than in large ones.

They are more spacious

When I was a wide-eyed 5-year-old, the Kleimann beach trip involved things that could easily be packed into the family FE Holden sedan. The largest of these was the beach umbrella followed closely by the 1970s vintage picnic hamper.

Fast forward to 2023, and a trip to the beach, even for a family of two children, includes a large gazebo tent, at least two inflatable row boats (one for each child), a solar pump to inflate these, an ice chest (an “Eski” in Australia) and any number of foldable chairs. A towering 4 X 4 ute, with its expansive tray, can easily accommodate these, and more.

It is interesting that something else that is taken to the beach, the sound-producing device (the massive “boom box” in the ’80s) has reduced in size, to a tiny cylinder…

In conclusion

It will be interesting to see how large these vehicles will get, and if they will continue to be the go-to for families.

Or will they be replaced by another form of a family vehicle? I recall that once upon a time, people carriers, such as the Kia Carnival, were everywhere, then there were fully-enclosed 4-wheel drives in the majority of driveways. Maybe these didn’t look mean enough…

Gain access to amazing stories by becoming a Medium Member via this link. As a member, part of your $5.00 per month membership fee goes to supporting the amazing writers whose stories you read.