Is There a Future for Midsize Pickups?

Don't forget, the domestic auto makers have about half the politicians in Washington in their pocket. They are very jealous to create an environment conducive to sales of their highest margin vehicles, the full size truck.

Combine that with the fact that there are really no serious competitors to the Tacoma/Frontier in the domestic space, and you can see why GM/Ford/Chrysler might be happy if the mid-size truck segment died off, thinking that those consumers will likely either jump up to the very profitable full size truck segment or the also very profitable larger SUV segment.

 

and then repair it if possible and do it again

 

I don't think diesel has a good chance here in America, sadly, because there are big money special interests out there who care more about emissions than they do about anything else, including economic benefits. They want to shove us all into a Prius or a Volt or a Leaf or a Smart car, not a new diesel vehicle.

 

I think Ford could easily sell more rangers if they would just update it, a 2011 that you buy today looks almost identical to every year back to like 98 or something ridiculous like that.

 

The larger picture here of course begs the exploration of solving America's oil addiction problem and the price we pay at the pump. In short, at the end of the day, and after all the discussion it's going to be about MPG's, and smaller = better MPG's. I think the full size trucks should be the ones evaporating from the landscape.

 

Sure it will survive. Not everyone needs a huge truck for compensation

 

Or re-think your choices...



EPA green!

 

I'm still crossing my fingers that VW and Audi with their 'clean diesels' will spark interest in small displacement diesels. Hopefully someone will follow suit with a mid sized truck or maybe VW will make a mid-sized truck with a TDI engine. It might be a ways off but I still think it's possible.

 

It would be awesome, for sure.

I think the problem is that in American politics, you have basically two groups making policy.

You have one side that is controlled by special interests wanting to push people into ethanol or full electric, and any policy change that does not push toward that is bad. (even their raising of the MPG standards are meant to squeeze people out of gasoline vehicles, not really to reduce gasoline consumption as a direct consequence - and the 'green' initiatives all enrich their political supporters, not those actually putting forth feasible solutions)

The other side doesn't want anything to change, because the status quo is fine with them - high levels of oil consumption mean brisk commerce, brisk sales of large (high margin) trucks and SUVs, and all their paymasters are happy too.

Common sense isn't so common anymore...

 

Mazda is coming out with a diesel in the 2012-2013 model year that is suppose to be an improvement over the TDI. The problem I have currently with the TDI (I had been looking at getting one next year) is there are a lot of reported issues where the damn motor is tearing itself apart. There are lots of complaints. And one of the avenues they are looking at is the quality of diesel fuel sold in America due to our rigid EPA standards. That has me waiting to see what the Mazda does or what VW does to determine/correct the issue.

 

Im really surprised that Ford rangers are going down ive owned a 2001 ranger and to tell you the truth that was one of the best vehicles i have ever owned and technically its not a mid size truck its a mini well that i guess is the "old" term, not so surprised that the Dakota is going down that thing is frickin UGLY! But i guess what consumers really want is a truck ANY truck that has good MPG with "decent" power and until they get that all vehicles are in trouble, people rather spend there hard earned money on a vehicle that can get the job done for there situation(which most likely is a full size truck) even though the full size truck uses a tad more gas(depending on make) then a mid size vehicle that costs almost the same or more(depending on upgrades/model) so i guess to get more bang for the buck people are turning to the full size and fazing out the mid size wonders.

 

VW has been selling those TDI Jettas and Golfs in the US for ages. I wonder what reliability is like on those?

 

Still to be seen whether it will be a small truck but maybe this:

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/22/ford-toyota-will-partner-on-rwd-hybrid-system-for-trucks-suvs/

is the future of the mid-size truck.

eTacoma here we come

 

Loving that idea. i find myself drooling over those jetta tdi wagons. for the price, why the hell would you buy a hybrid when you can go diesel? A turbodiesel Taco would make me outrageously happy. I would also really love a rehash of the Toyota Pickup from the old days: a compact, straight axle, just real basic 4x4 truck, low in cost, easy on gas and extremely capable. But sadly, I'm well aware that that is a total pipedream (at least for now).

 

Historically fabulous: 200k miles + is easily achieved. But the current diesel designs are ultra-low polluting, made for low sulfur diesel and particulate emission standards in particular. I think it's still to be seen just how well these new designs will hold up.

 

Here is a link to it. There is a ton of these on the TDI, VW forums. http://www.tdi-issues.com/problems-tac69/

Like I said I would love to get a passat TDI. I wish they would put a TDI in an audi A4, just because the extra attention and A4 gets with add on features. Right now I will wait and see if the failures get sorted before I decide for myself. I have a couple of years before I have the tacoma paid off an my wife's A4 paid off.

 

http://www.volkswagen-commercial-vehicles.com/int/en/models/amarok.html

 

That would be my bet for the first mid-sized diesel pick-up in the states (besides any older models that were released 20+ years ago).

 

One tonne payload !

 

No US model