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The Reason Why Are Trucks Getting Bigger

(toddofmischief.blogspot.com)
173 points yasp | 1 comments | 11 Aug 22 13:06 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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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throwaway0a5e ◴[11 Aug 22 14:43 UTC] No.32426460[source]▶
> And why is it the current trend in automotive (specifically, truck) fashion?

Because European pedestrian safety requirements all but demand big bulbous front ends, it's uneconomical to design that much of a car or SUV twice and a fugly grill is the solution OEMs have deemed most effective at prettying that up. The trucks are all but forced to copy the same rough shapes because "brand identity" and "design language".

Aggressive styling and goes over the decades. You can make these cars look however you want with a little bit of black plastic and fake chrome with no impact on safety. The actual underlying shapes and dimensions that you are muddying the waters by conflating with aggression are driven by technical requirements.

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woodruffw ◴[11 Aug 22 14:50 UTC] No.32426592[source]▶
This doesn’t follow at all: the American pickup truck industry isn’t dominated (or even particularly influenced) by European demand. They’re a tiny and shrinking part of the EU market[1] with plenty of domestic competition (with markedly less aggressive designs).

American pickup truck design is overwhelmingly influenced by American market trends, since that’s where they’re being sold. And the domestic market likes aggressive designs, and does not particularly care about pedestrian safety[2].

[1]: https://www.autonews.com/sales/pickups-europeans-say-thanks-...

[2]: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/the-hidden-danger...

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eadmund ◴[11 Aug 22 15:29 UTC] No.32427229[source]▶
> the American pickup truck industry isn’t dominated (or even particularly influenced) by European demand

It is, however, influenced by European regulations to the extent that American pickup makers desire a) to sell in the European market at all and b) desire to minimise re-engineering costs.

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woodruffw ◴[11 Aug 22 15:58 UTC] No.32427685[source]▶
"To the extent" being operative. It'd be good to have numbers substantiating this, because all signals indicate that US truck manufacturers have very little presence in European markets.
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eadmund ◴[11 Aug 22 16:01 UTC] No.32427732{3}[source]▶
> US truck manufacturers have very little presence in European markets.

If they have any presence at all then they are subject to European regulations of one form or another.

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1. woodruffw ◴[11 Aug 22 16:13 UTC] No.32427913{4}[source]▶
For the units they deliver to those markets. You haven't demonstrated that the US models are being adapted to European requirements, rather than companies selling European adapted models. My understanding as a lay-person is that the latter is much more common, since the European market requires adaptation anyways (more diesel engines, more manual transmissions, different driver side, &c.)