CarSeekBlog

When I was a kid my Dad drove an old 1950s vintage Ford pick-up we called the Old Green Goose. I absolutely loved that thing and remain a truck adherent in my heart although right now I drive a mini-van to meet the needs of my handicapped housemate. That vehicle, sporting less than 20,000 miles after 4.5 years, will be paid off in February and I’m not looking to take on new debt. If I were, however, the idea of a “lifestyle” pickup would have a strong pull for me.

Carmakers are working on a new generation of trucks that are more like cars, built on unibody platforms and utilize front-wheel-drive. Right now leaders in this genre include:

- a concept from Toyota called the A-BAT,
- Ford’s Explorer Sport Trac, which seems poised to go fwd unibody,
- two planned pickups from General Motors,
- and potentially an offering from Chrysler as well.

As we’ve seen with the recent proliferation of clean-diesel vehicles, these ideas tend to snowball through the world of automakers. You can almost hear it, “They’re building a WHAT? Okay, we gotta build a WHAT too.”

So, what are the hallmarks of lifestyle pickups as we see them now?

- less hauling capacity
- drive quality similar to a car
- smaller engines
- better miles per gallon

Beyond that, the genre is wide-open. It’s going to be an interesting segment to watch, much like crossovers have evolved over the past year to 18 months. In my opinion, something has to come along to take the place of the SUV, a behemoth whose demise I won’t mourn. Smaller, more flexible, more efficient pick-up “crossovers?” Now that intrigues me.

Filed under: Chrysler, Ford, GM, Re-imaginings & Retro-fittings, Toyota by Shorty