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The Reason Why Are Trucks Getting Bigger

(toddofmischief.blogspot.com)
173 points yasp | 2 comments | 11 Aug 22 13:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.582s | source
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woodruffw ◴[11 Aug 22 13:50 UTC] No.32425520[source]▶
The author makes a correct observation (trucks are getting bigger to circumvent emissions guidelines, not solely out of ego), but fails to address the underlying market demand: as trucks have gotten bigger, they've also gotten "meaner"[1]. Emissions requirements don't require a truck to look like it's going to beat you up.

In other words: consumer ego (wanting to drive a big, mean looking truck) is an underlying pressure in the market, even if the sufficient mover for the current size explosion is emissions dodging.

[1]: https://jalopnik.com/we-need-to-talk-about-truck-design-righ...

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tablespoon ◴[11 Aug 22 14:22 UTC] No.32426067[source]▶
> as trucks have gotten bigger, they've also gotten "meaner"[1].

Or to be more precise: a current trend in automotive fashion is a larger grille, and some blogger framed that tendentiously for clicks.

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woodruffw ◴[11 Aug 22 14:35 UTC] No.32426309[source]▶
And why is it the current trend in automotive (specifically, truck) fashion?

This is a weird indirection to introduce: of course it’s fashionable. The observation is that it’s fashionable because aggression is itself fashionable, at least to the target market.

I used Jalopnik as a source, since they’re a well known car website. I’ll try to find additional sources; I seem to recall an interview with a Ford or Chrysler exec a handful of years ago where they said, point blank, that aggressive front designs are a key selling point to their customer base.

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1. ryandrake ◴[11 Aug 22 15:40 UTC] No.32427408[source]▶
> This is a weird indirection to introduce: of course it’s fashionable. The observation is that it’s fashionable because aggression is itself fashionable, at least to the target market.

People in this thread keep dancing around it but I think nobody has outright said it yet. Maybe it's as simple as: aggressive, belligerent truck styling is uniquely fashionable in America because American culture is getting more and more aggressive and belligerent. Maybe I'm browsing too much r/PublicFreakout, but in the last few years, there's been a visible rise in road rage, people berating service workers, belligerent angry protesting, people trashing businesses over minor transgressions, people losing their shit on airliners, and so on. The public is turning into "that guy in the bar constantly looking for a fight." It shouldn't be surprising that trucks styled such that they look like they're about to bludgeon you are more and more fashionable. Admittedly, this is more of a political statement based on anecdotes than one that comes out of research and data, but hey, this is HN, not Nature.

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2. soupfordummies ◴[11 Aug 22 16:00 UTC] No.32427717[source]▶
It definitely feels like society as a whole has gotten more impatient, entitled and angry since the pandemic. Maybe it was all the time spent at home rather than interacting with strangers and taking part in society. I mean we're still not to pre-pandemic levels of socialization I'd say.

EDIT: Whether this has anything to do with current car design trends is a different question though :P