Why Americans Are OBSESSED With Trucks

Trucks have come to dominate the roadways of North America (seriously, the Ford F-150 is the #1 selling vehicle in the US). But... how did we get to this point?

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Script: Holly Maley
Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

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[saharajackson]

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”

[RSearch]

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

[hockeynut]

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

[sptfr]

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.

[TheEvilCommenter]

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

[RadixLecti]

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

[Circmspice]

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.

[Davmm]

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.

[onebackzach]

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

[zin]

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

[MalfosRanger]

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.

[arraine]

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.

[a_enigma]

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.

[phil]

As a Korean, I can say this situation is going the same direction in my home country. I lived most my life in Korea, and when I was a kid, basically everyone drove sedans and minivans, and the only pickups we had were very similar to Japanese Kei trucks. I spent many years outside of Korea for school, and when I came back to visit, I was surprised to see how many large vehicles there were that I thought I was walking along an American street. When I came back, they just started selling large American trucks and SUVs, and I could see Tahoes and F-150s all over the place. The thing is, it's very unnecessary because South Korea is a small country, and even more so because everyone who is buying these trucks live in Seoul, the largest and most populated city in Korea. I don't understand why people feel the need to buy these huge vehicles when they are gonna eat more fuel and be way harder to maneuver there.

[dzaki]

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

[empressmarowynn]

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.

[floraidh]

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.

[walkermorales]

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 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.

[joes]

Another thing you forgot was trucks aren't classed as a luxury vehicle as their "work vehicles" so they are taxed less...a big fancy f150 costing a fraction of a similar bmw

[milo]

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.