The Reason Why Are Trucks Getting Bigger

This is an interesting theory, but there's a way to test it: if it's true that trucks have gotten bigger to avoid the light truck definition, we should see a proliferation of light trucks just long enough to avoid the classification.

[Edit: I originally cited 280cm as the wheelbase cut-off from [1], but on a re-read, it's more complicated; see below.]

The best-selling vehicles:

F-series pickup[2]: 392cm

Dodge Ram[3]: 367cm

Chevy Silverado[4]: 373cm

Correction/Edit: The relevant definition for a light truck is based on a number of criteria which relate to the wheelbase but don't actually specify it. If someone wants a fun trig problem, you could determine whether these vehicles are designed to be just long enough to satisfy the requirements listed here [5].

[1] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-V/p...

[2] https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/f-150

[3] https://carsauthority.com/2023-dodge-ram/#:~:text=2023%20Dod....

[4] https://www.caranddriver.com/chevrolet/silverado-1500/specs/...

[5] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-V/p...

I suspect that a driving force of "large truck" is vehicles getting expensive enough that people don't buy two - whereas in the past you might have a commuter car and a family van and a weekend hauler, now you have to get one vehicle that fits all those roles.

And nobody wants to drive a minivan so they opt for a truck (need the bed) but they also want to be able to haul four people, so they go for a crew cab.

The TFA is exactly correct. It’s something I’ve tried to explain for a long time. But… no one wants to hear Obama’s green ideas on emissions where so completely wrong.

There were CAFE (emissions average over all mfg’s products) changes that also lead to some strange things.

Example… in order to make the 392 Wrangler, Jeep also had to make the plug-in hybrid (which is good. In order to make more 2-door Rubicon models they had to make more larger 4x cylinder JT model trucks.

The best thing to remember with regulations is that nothing is ever built to regulation, it’s built around regulation.

> we should see a proliferation of light trucks just long enough to avoid the classification

That's certainly possible, but is that necessarily the outcome? What if there are two maxima for optimum truck size and the line that this regulation establishes is on the up-slope towards the higher of the two? E.g. It used to make sense to build a small, two-door truck, but now that trucks need to be at least x size, it's better to make an (x + 50cm) four door vehicle rather than an oversized two-door.

Don’t forget, parents will be judged for having a carseat in the front seat.

As I mentioned in my edit, it does seem to be the case that it's a more complicated formula, but we can still determine whether there's a proliferation of vehicles that are close to the boundary of that formula, or not.

I'm not saying that the article's theory is wrong, just that it is empirically testable if anyone cares enough to do some math (another day, I'd be up to the challenge myself. It would be a neat blog post).

I'm very willing to believe that it's correct, but this article doesn't provide the evidence. A plot that showed that these top-selling vehicles just barely avoid the light truck cutoff would be a compelling way to demonstrate that. I'm afraid anything else will devolve into partisan bickering, even though this is an empirically testable theory.

> I suspect that a driving force of "large truck" is vehicles getting expensive enough that people don't buy two

I don't drive enough outside of work to justify the costs to keep my car on the road in addition to my truck. I would have preferred a cargo van instead of the truck though, but they were 4x the price when I was buying.

Anecdotally this would drive my purchasing if I bought a truck today. I started with an old 80s S10, and would love another “small truck” if someone made it. But I also need a vehicle that will transport more than 2 people. In the 80s, a third, small truck for the times you need a truck was a viable approach. Given the sizes it might be a tight fit to have 3 vehicles but it would be doable. Today, the size of trucks makes squeezing one as a 3rd vehicle in my parking areas would be impossible. So if it’s going to replace one of the people haulers, it has to haul people, which means it needs the extended cab space, and then needs to be longer still because buying a truck whose bed space is largely taken up by cab defeats the utility of the truck.