Detroit’s new trend: Tiny trucks
Having supersized its trucks and killed off many of its regular, carshaped vehicles, the U.S. auto industry
is playing an old hit with tiny pickups. The same types of fuel-sipping work
rigs that gained momentum in the Reagan era, after the gas crisis of the 1970s, are having a renaissance today, as young buyers fret over the climate crisis and confront piles of student debt.
Jim Baumbick, Ford’s vice president of product line management, said the company sees small trucks as “an untapped opportunity” – precious socalled white space in an auto industry jammed with SUVS of all shapes and sizes. Ford had been closely eyeing the market for starter vehicles, Baumbick said, and saw “a lot of competitors and a lot of customers” but not a lot of trucks.
In addition to Ford’s Maverick, Hyundai
recently launched the Santa Cruz, an even more modest rig. In developing the machine, Hyundai tacticians did more research in America than they have on nearly any vehicle, according to Gil Castillo, senior group manager of product strategy. They found a large crowd of people driving compact crossover SUVS who yearned for more cargo space.
Forecaster LMC Automotive sees the compact-pickup market in the U.S. growing to as many as 200,000 vehicles a year by mid-decade. It also expects Toyota will get back in the tinytruck game, and possibly General Motors. GM declined to comment.
“This is a segment that has legs,” said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC. “Millennials are interested in the utility of a pickup and the flexibility of having that open bed, whether you’re using it as a lifestyle truck or making trips to the hardware store.”