The pickup truck has been a staple of American life for almost a century and for decades it didn’t change much.
But in the late 1980s, consumers began to use pickups as personal vehicles as well as for work, boosting demand.
By the 1990s, the evolution of the truck into an all-purpose vehicle was complete with it taking on sedan-like attributes.
Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge, which used to sell bare-bones work trucks with stiff bench seats and plain dashboards to farmers and craftsman, now peddle trucks with plush seats, leather-wrapped steering wheels, map pockets, cup-holders and sophisticated sound systems with multiple speakers.
“It’s the next evolution of the American truck,” says Scott Upham of Providata, an automotive-oriented consulting firm in Ann Arbor, Mich. “People wanted more.”
Jim Hall, an analyst with AutoPacific Inc., an auto market research company in Santa Ana, Calif., also sees a shift in ride and handling to more car-like smoothness to accommodate the suburban buyers who wanted the truck to behave more like the family sedan.
The Ford F-150 pickup and its heavy-duty first cousin the F-250, with larger carrying capacity, offers a graphic illustration of the flexibility in trucks. The F-Series has been Ford’s–and the industry’s–best-selling vehicle for more than two decades and its evolution began with cab types.
There’s the standard or regular cab, an extended or super cab with space for a jumpseat behind the driver and a crew cab that has four doors and room for up to six adults, according to Ford spokeswoman Betsy Gave.
The F-150 to can be configured seven ways starting from regular cab; short-wheel base of 119.9-inches and two-wheel-drive to an F-150 SuperCrew, with the four doors and a 138.8-inch wheelbase in its four-wheel-drive incarnation. Ford’s F-250 can be ordered with a long cargo box 172.4-inch wheelbase, which makes it more than four-feet longer than a regular F-150, but is capable of carrying a complete work crew and all their tools and supplies, Ford representatives note.
Cargo boxes also come in six- and eight-foot lengths, which can be ordered in 5 1/2- or 6 1/2 or 8-foot lengths, depending on the body style.
“Everybody is looking for something different. If one has it, the other needs to get it,” says Michael Robinet, an analyst with CSM Inc. in Farmington Hills, Mich.
And luxury could be that difference.
A luxury truck might not have worked five years year ago but now there are an ample number of prospective buyers, says Greg Salchow, an analyst with Raymond James in Detroit. The number of affluent buyers of new vehicles has expanded in recent years, Salchow notes.
Ron Zarrella, president of GM’s North American Operations, notes that GM has marketed GMC trucks as upscale vehicles since the early 1990s to differentiate them from Chevrolet trucks.
But the first seriously status-conscious truck is the Lincoln Blackwood, a version of the Ford F-150 that wed a pickup bed with a Navigator sport-utility cabin when it bowed as a concept in 1999 and is scheduled to start arriving in showrooms at mid-year.
“We were so pleased by the public’s enthusiasm for the concept Lincoln Blackwood, we knew we had to build it,” says Mark Hutchins, president of Lincoln Mercury Division.
He adds the production version will deliver the “got to have it” appeal of the concept. Ford also intends to limit the production of the Blackwood to maintain its exclusivity, Hutchins notes. The number being tossed around is 10,000 units annually.
Ford is building all the comfort and convenience features into the Blackwood that buyers expect in Lincoln autos. Blackwood’s climate-controlled seats, for example, circulate heated or cooled air through perforated leather using a dedicated fan and compact heat pump. The brake and accelerator pedal can be adjusted and standard features include a seven-speaker audio system with subwoofer and six-CD changer with auto-shutoff headlamps.
Not to be outdone, General Motors has unveiled its Cadillac Escalade EXT, with leather seating for six, wood-grain trim, electronic climate control and Bose sound system.
DaimlerChrysler, a force in the truck market with its Ram, has not engaged in the niche truck efforts.
“We don’t need to do anything special; we’ve got the Ram,” says spokesman Mike Rosenau. The company has invested heavily in a new Dodge pickup due out in the fall.
But analyst Salchow sees the blurring of the lines continuing.
Take the Chevy Avalanche, a pickup/sport-ute built off the smaller S-10.
“I think it looks like a truck,” says Salchow. “I think there is a market for these vehicles. What it is is a sign of the market fragmenting into smaller segments.”
Chevrolet will build its SSR concept, a roadster/pickup combo, next year as a 2003, according to Richard Wagoner, GM’s chief executive. The SSR also is part of GM’s stepped up campaign to win back younger buyers.
In early January, Chevy rolled out the Borrego concept, a “sport truck” inspired by rally cars and off-road racers. It was based on an all-wheel-drive system and 4-cylinder engine designed by Subaru, the Japanese automaker owned by Fuji Heavy Industries in which GM holds a 20 percent stake.
As truck sales have expanded, manufacturers have also begun utilizing the marketing tools, such as special models, that have boosted cars’ appeal to targeted consumers.
Thus, Ford sells a performance- oriented SVT F-150 Lightning designed by the company’s Special Vehicle Team, which generally soups up Mustangs, as well as an all-black Harley-Davidson F-150.
But don’t count out the regular, old work truck.
“The regular cab trucks is still an important part of our business,” says Dan Flores, a GM spokesman.
