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Fucking FINALLY.
I've been waiting for a small pickup like the old 90s 4-banger Toyota. And this is electric, simple for function, and actually affordable?
Capitalists must be seething. If it doesnt have leather interior, 19 speaker surround sound, and cost 80k, get it out of our country! /s
Small gas-powered trucks are effectively illegal in the US.
It's regulation made in response to automakers calling everything a "light truck" to get around fuel economy and emissions standards in the 90s and 2000s.The straw that broke the camel's back was the PT Cruiser being classified as a truck by Chrysler.
So, starting in model year 2012, vehicle fuel economy standards started being based on vehicle footprint. The side effect was that small, powerful vehicles designed for moving cargo more efficiently or in tighter spaces than large trucks were impacted. It's why 2011 was the last year model of the old Rangers, S10s, Dakota, etc.
That's why the new Rangers are larger than the old F150s. They have to make them bigger to meet CAFE standards.
Same issue hit the small cargo vans in 2021/22. As the CAFE standards went up, it became impossible to meet fuel economy standards for the NV200, Ford Transit Connect, and Ram ProMaster City compact cargo vans, so they were all discontinued.
New York City was changing its whole Taxi fleet to NV200s due to their flexibility and accessibility options, and now can't buy new ones because a Toyota Camry has less-strict fuel economy requirements.
What are the Maverick and Santa Cruz classified as? I think they fit the small or light truck category, if they are categorized as trucks at all.
A Maverick is a light truck in much the same way a 737 is a small plane. Sure there are bigger ones, but it's a 4 door truck with a 4 foot bed that's high enough to make loading and unloading harder than it needs to be. It's twice the weight and almost twice the size of a 70s/80s Toyota Pickup, which is a light truck.
A Nissan Hardbody is one of the small trucks people keep complaining aren't made anymore.
Dimensions of the 4 doors variant: length 5.1m, width 1.8m, height 1.7m
Maverick dimensions (biggest model just to prove the point): length 5.1m, width 1.84m, height 1.76m
It's the same thing with all trucks, compared to the equivalent model (i.e. not comparing a 2 doors with a crew cab like the anti truck crowd loves to do) modern trucks look much bigger but it's a design and height thing more than anything, their length and width hasn't increased that much, especially if you compare with cars of the same model over the same period (1985 Civic sedan vs 2025 Civic sedan for example).
If you think a 2nd and 8th gen Toyota Hilux are the same dimensions it might be time to visit an optometrist.
I'm saying the difference isn't a big as what some people pretend when you're comparing the same versions.
Short box regular cab vs long box crew cab, that's what people usually use as a comparison to prove their point even though it makes no sense to do so.
It does make sense, as regular cabs cannot be bought on new trucks. All of them are crew cabs, decreasing their utility and increasing their weight and size.
As far as the general argument. Look at the headlight and start height of a Ford ranger in 2002 vs today.
Nope, doesn't make sense at that's like saying cars got bigger because the Jetta is bigger than the Golf.
As far as headlight height is concerned, again, design difference, total height isn't that different.
The problem is you're arguing against what people have actually experienced, and in cases where they're in an area with persevered older vehicles on the road, can directly see.
Rangers are now the size of old f150s, f150s are now larger than older f350s. Trucks are just bigger, period. All newer vehicles are just bigger and bulkier than older (90s-00s) vehicles.
Its a massive safety issue, it's been studied in actual scientific journals, it is a fact you can't really deny at this point and it's weird you're trying to.
Again, if you look at the actual specs and compare the same types of trucks, no, they're not that much bigger. Feelings don't trump facts.
Their hood might be higher, the box encompassing the vehicle isn't that much bigger than it was back in the day.
Third gen ranger (the one everyone seems the be missing so damn much) dimensions: Length 188 to 203", width 70", height 69"
Current gen ranger: length 211" (+8 vs comparable model), width 75" (+5"), height 73 to 76" (+4" to 7")
Tenth gen F150: length 202 to 239" (+11" for model comparable to current Ranger), width 80" (+5), height 73 to 75" (about the same)
It absolutely is, and facts don't get trumped by misleading facts.
Its not even a difficult thing to understand. You're on the internet and have an infinite number of pictures that refute your idea.
Stop with your fucking pictures, look at specs sheets, it's fucking numbers we're comparing, not feelings.
Sure, the spec sheet I'll look at is a picture of a 2004 Ford ranger and a 2024 Ford ranger, one of which is twice the size of the other while having more limited visibility from the driver's seat and headlights set above the average height of cars from the 1990s, ensuring bright ass headlights in your mirrors no matter what.
Numbers don't lie, I even pulled the numbers to prove you wrong.
The biggest increase is in length, you know why? Crumple zones. Have fun getting in an accident without them.
"Hur durr, a regular cab short bed truck is smaller than a crew cab truck!"
I really don't care about random numbers you claim to have found that go contrary to reality.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_(Americas)
There, those random numbers, your can verify them.
So your own source shows the dimensions increasing every single generation to the point of more than a 20% increase in some dimensions.... Are you sure that's what you want to use to defend your deranged worship of giant, indefensible trucks that have explicitly proven to be larger and less safe than their predecessors?
Again, if you are intelligent enough to not compare different builds (which it clearly seems you aren't), there never is a 20% increase between generations.
A regular cab short box might be much shorter than the next generation supercar long box, but that is not the same vehicle. Again, that's like comparing a hatchback and a sedan and saying the sedan is way bigger, well no shit Sherlock.
Anyway, I'm done arguing with your, no need to reply since you'll be in my block list with everyone else who is unable to understand simple facts and that prefers to rely on their feelings to build opinions, people like you are the reason the world is turning to shit, hope you're proud!
Here's a picture for you, just the kind you will appreciate
So... Your point is the 2004 ranger is smaller, and makes the 2024 ranger look bigger because it's so much smaller?
Good work agreeing with me while trying to be clever but entirely misusing the idea of forced perspective.
Twice the size how? Like, crew cab versus single cab? Not sure that's a fair comparison
...park a maverick next to a nineties ranger; the difference is ridiculous...
I own two mavericks, it’s a fair comparison. They only look small because of the size of today’s vehicles… in the 1980’s you’d see most of today’s lifted trucks in a monster truck rally.
Hybrids meet CAFE.
But their towing and carrying capacity versus the old Rangers and S-10s is pitiful.
Light trucks, which means less CAFE regulation. Same classification as crossovers (why crossovers are so popular).
That's not accurate. "Light Truck" also includes a crew cab F150 with an extended bed that requires a Sherpa to enter. The Maverick and an F150 have the same standards, but weighted based on vehicle footprint.
But the Maverick standard model is a hybrid, so it meets CAFE standards.
If you're comparing a crewcab Ranger to a 2-door F150, sure, but that's not really a valid comparison.
Comparing equivalent configs tells a different story: every crewcab F150 is taller, longer, and wider than a new crewcab Ranger. The 10th gen and earlier (pre-2004) F150s, which are shorter than 11th gen+ F150s, are still bigger when compared to the Ranger in equivalent configurations.
People can't seem to figure that out, to them a truck is a truck is a truck even though they're the vehicles with the most variations in size for a same model built the same year.
Don't get too excited about seething capitalists. Bezos is a major investor.
Article said it caught his interest, which to me means he took notice and will likely try to own it and enshitify it soon, not that he is currently behind it.
He's one of 16 investors. Source:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/
With all that user upgradability it's basically free real-estate for enshittification. Surley, the users don't know what they want.
Bezzzos
Relatively affordable. It is 20k after the federal discounts and kick backs. Meanwhile, the Chinese EV market has been making cars as low as 4k. https://greenspeedx.com/cheap-electric-cars-available-in-china/
I'm not a pro China person (because one time in Ark, a Chinese team kept destroying my thatch base), but they seem to have the things. Apparently Mexico is aiming to compete in the EV market as well.
If by "the things" you mean underpaid labor, then yes.
And state subsidies.
Oh, the US has state subsidies too. They just get pocketed by execs.
Even Europe has a tariff for EVs from China due to government subsidies. So it’s probably not 4K, but it’s also probably less than 25
You might ask yourself what it is that allows them to produce and sell a brand new vehicle for $4k, basically the same price as a high-end PC or a couple of high-end smartphones.
I dunno. Isn’t that what we need? Gov subsidy to increase the adoption of ev?
We might hit the Jevons paradox pretty hard though.
Mostly automation and sensible regulations. Also direct to consumer sales with third party dealerships not really existing for new cars. Also generally a lower cost of living allowing for lower wages and thus lower labor costs for the non automated parts.
Why is it that China is the only country on the planet able to sell new vehicles for this cheap? Surely other countries have automation and sensible regulations too.
They genuinely aren't, Muerza in South Africa and a variety of other local brands across Africa and Asia have cheap cars.
China cuts it down further by completely subsidizing education and opening vocational schools near factories that specialize in what those factory owners need, allowing hyper specialization. When you have an entire neighborhood able to produce all the parts of a car, instead of importing parts from across the world and assembling it like us car manufacturers do, you're able to massively cut costs.
All manufacturing in china takes this approach of having almost enclaves of specialized knowledge and factories, and is genuinely an engineers wet dream to work in since you can get any part you could possibly want the same day, even if you just designed the part yesterday.
Microraptors
So "chickens" basically?
Chickens that dismount you and knock you out
Yeah, I'm pretty hype for this. It's got just the basics of what's needed, and if you want to mod it with upgrades you can.
I only wish there was a way to make it AWD/4WD, and if there was a way for it to tow a little more weight, then it'd be perfect.
As it is now, it's still a very compelling concept that I might get into as outside of towing, it solves all the things I need a truck for.
Capitalists funded this, that's one the benefits of capitalism, if the market is only offering pricey crappy products that people don't enjoy buying, theres an opening in the market that can be filled with a company selling people exactly what they want and need.