I don't understand it, but it's great!

Lots of Tacomas all around San Francisco Bay. Used to do the Jeep wave back in my CJ-5, but nowadays it looks more like something a Kpop girls group would do.

 

Three very interesting points there that are worthy of discussion.
I'll take on the last one first to get it out of the way:

How long to keep your Tacoma?

Well, mine has a new frame and is in excellent condition otherwise, 60k miles.
I'm satisfied with it and would like to keep it as long as possible.
So it makes sense to protect it (rust prevention, regular maintenance).
But I'm a lifelong truck guy, recently retired. I still want (and yes, need) a truck. Just not a full size one any more.
Not interested in new gizmos, so I'm not the buyer the manufacturers are catering to now.
Which leads me to:

Lifestyle trucks, are they a fad?

One might add crossovers to that.
Sales keep going up year after year, and sedan sales have suffered in consequence.
Who's buying them?
Urban/ Suburban dwellers, clearly.
Rural people have (in my lifetime) always bought pickup trucks, usually full size. For practical reasons.
For city people, the practicality aspect is less clear. More expensive to buy and maintain. Lower MPG, obviously.
They're buying them though.
And the trucks are less and less like what trucks used to be.
Less Spartan and more car-like, shall we say?
Though still capable. More expensive, certainly.
So, fad or long-term market shift? (I almost said permanent shift, but nothing is permanent).
I dunno, but it shows no sign of ending. Not yet.

Resale in future

That's gonna depend on the answer to the previous question.



Isn't it interesting that concurrent with the major EV push underway, so many people are still buying gas hog trucks?
I wouldn't place a bet either way.
I've been humbled enough times in the stock market to be wary of predictions.

 

Nice post.

I pretty much agree with everything you have written.

EV is the game changer. Once they become cost effective modes of transportation, use of the internal combustion engine will fade away in crowded areas.

Add in the autonomous factor, and the way humans get around is going to change drastically someday, maybe sooner than many expect.

For now though, if anything happens to cause oil prices to rise for any extended length of time, these gas guzzling SUV/ trucks
the will fall out of fashion quickly, imo.

Planning on keeping my truck until I can't drive anymore regardless.

Cheers

 

You didn't look hard enough...

 

everyone wants a truck now....

 

A lot of white ones in AZ. So I went with cavalry blue.

 

I remember clearly the first two BIG oil shocks in '73 and '79.
Small gas efficient cars were the thing for a few years after each one.
Fads, if you will.
Because when gas prices came down again, and the memory of the shock dimmed, it was back to the usual.
Apparently, Americans don't much like dinky cars.

Same in the immediate run-up to 2008 and beyond when gas prices were high.
SMART cars, oh yeah.
Those things were awful for numerous reasons. But some poor suckers bought them.

Look at the Tacoma sales chart for this century Grossomotto posted earlier.
How quickly people forget.

Yeah, EV and autonomous vehicles are here.
Who can say what the adoption rate will be?
Poor timing is how people lose their shirts.

Will TESLA be the real game changer?
If they hit the wave just right, sure. Or they could go bust and someone else will reap the rewards.
So I won't be buying TESLA stocks, my risk tolerance isn't high enough for that.
I'm betting on marijuana stocks instead.

 

Can't grow an EV in your back yard...lol

https://youtu.be/Duz-FUHCcWI

 

I'm the 2nd on my tiny little street!

 

FIFY