Many of my colleagues are car guys; as a consequence, I often find myself debating about or defending pickups. Why they exist. Why they're popular. Why people want to pretend to be cowboys (that particular question usually tells me everything I need to know about the asker). Even, what exactly is a truck?
As you can imagine, companies like Honda, with its recently released Ridgeline "fence-stradler," are asking us all the time why it doesn't get the same love all the other pickups get when its vehicle is rated to tow and haul just as much as the others (Ford, Chevy, Dodge) do -- and it even has a hidden bed trunk. What's the deal? I
t usually takes all my strength not to respond: "If you have to ask the question, then you don't get it." Instead, I slip into my "polite" mode, but that usually only gets me a blank stare and another question I thought I just answered. Maybe the answer is in the inherent problems with definitions. Our minds want to pigeon-hole things, and today's trucks seem to be splintering and fractionalizing in many new and different directions. I'm thinking we need a new category called "Half-trucks" for some our dual-purpose "pickups," in the same way we can't really call a crossover an SUV. (Of course, I suggest this knowing none of the automakers would want one of their vehicles to be called half of anything, so I'll throw the task of coming up with a better name out to you at the end of this piece.)
Still, the pickups that don't have a physically separated bed from the cab (two door or four door), in fact, have their bed integrated in some way, shape, or form into the body of the pickup truck need to be called something else other than a traditional pickup. Regardless, the class is growing. It started with the Ford Sport Trac (which technically has a separate bed but is based off a modified Explorer SUV chassis), then the Chevy Avalanche, then the Cadillac Escalade EXT, then the Hummer H2 SUT, then the Honda Ridgeline, and we're hearing that others (like the Toyota A-Bat and GMC Denali XT) are going to come out with their own models as well. And we haven't even begun to discuss vehicles like the Subaru Baja or upcoming Australian Holden Ute.
There needs to be some kind of awareness of what it means to put your pickup truck on an SUV (or a minivan, or car, or whatever) platform and what the consequences of that should be when looking for a name. Clearly, it can't just be about how much it can carry and tow or how comfy it is to drive. A lot of things can carry and tow. It can't just be about a V-8 because many of the high-tech V-6s are making V-8 horsepower. And it can't just be about traditional frames or four-wheel-drive systems because use of high-strength steel and super sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems are putting just about everything on even footing, no matter what the terrain.
I have a buddy who says we should just use a simple sledgehammer test. Take a sledge and hit a few parts and pieces underneath the vehicle. How confident are you that you haven't damaged what you've hit? No damage -- it's a truck. Damage -- it's not a truck. We have half-tons, we have SUTs, we even had the Ranchero and El Camino. Traditional and Modern. Old and New. Half tons or Half trucks. Too bad the terms "hybrid" and "crossover" are already taken. Ideas?