Pickup vehicles are now luxury automobiles
Nobody is even pretending that they’re for work anymore.
Whenever I write about pickup trucks being used as urban own family haulers, I get buried in comments approximately how “those are operating motors.” How they’re needed on the farm and the process web page. I haven’t doubt that this is actually for many people, though I am now not positive that running men and women need a 750-watt sound machine and active noise cancellation. But it is now not what’s using the marketplace. Now Mike Colias of the Wall Street Journal confirms it: pickups at the moment are luxury cars.
In recent years, Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler added vehicles at fee factors nicely into the luxurious-vehicle territory, presenting plusher interiors, greater powerful engines, and top-rate options like massage seats and touch screens the size of small TVs. Some trucks are even priced above $75,000, making them greater pricey than positive luxurious cars. One purchaser who offered a $ fifty-two,000 Ram Laramie enjoys “a yawning sunroof, heated 2d-row seats and a video feed that gives a 360-degree aerial view of the truck’s environment.”
“I specifically love the surround cameras to park this beast,” said Mr. Newlon, a 49-12 months-antique small-business owner from southwest Ohio.
One would observe that he wouldn’t want cameras if he could clearly see the cars around him when he changed into parking.
The vans are a hit with the carmakers because they’re blanketed by a 25 percentage responsibility on foreign-made trucks, so there is, in reality now, not very much opposition. And while you study the feedback, it’s miles clean that many buyers are happy for them:
My 6-seater 2015 F150 Supercrew Lariat is the quality luxury automobile I even have ever owned. And that includes my previous Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac, and Lexus sedans.
In another article, Dan Neil reviewed a Ford F150, who claims that it sparks joy because he goes via Kondo-mania and may haul all his stuff to the flea markets, donation facilities, and landfills. This is a $ seventy-seven,000 truck with some alternatives:
This component turned into more-fancy—strength-deployed going for walks boards; twin-panel moonroof; powered rear window with defrost; touch display screen infotainment and navigation; towing package deal (optional); 22-inch polished aluminum wheels; heated leather-based seats all round, bartender—and it became rapid.
Yes, a few humans need pickup trucks for paintings. Some human beings have a boat or trailer to drag. But “two-tone leather-based upholstery, heated/ventilated/massage front seats, touch display navigation with Bang & Olufsen audio, two-panel moonroof”? I do not assume so.
I do now not begrudge all people for their fun. But because these were painted cars, they’re exempt from safety requirements that protect pedestrians and kill 3 times the fee of passenger automobiles. Now that they’re no longer work vehicles, they must meet the same protection and fuel efficiency requirements as some other vehicle.
