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Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

economist.com

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Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#131

Post by nicbou »

porphyra wrote: post #37

One of the most highly upvoted Reddit posts on /r/fuckcars mocks large pickups compared to the utility of a kei truck. https://reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/sdrgv3/japanese_truck... A kei truck has about 90% the bed length of a pickup while being a lot more nimble. The lower bed is more ergonomic to load and unload too.

For me, European multipurpose vehicles (sprinter vans?) were a revelation. An old Renault Kangoo is cheap to buy, cheap to drive and cheap to maintain. It's a small, simple car that drives and parks like a small sedan, but carries as much as a small pickup truck.

I can fit a bed, 3 months of luggage and a bicycle in mine. In a pinch, it's a brilliant microcamper. It's a big box on wheels. You can do what you want with it.

It's not a nice car, but it was designed to serve real user needs. That's why they're everywhere from Morocco to Poland.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#132

Post by yamtaddle »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #45
pharmakom wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please buy a minivan if this is your situation.

Why? What do you care what he drives?

Cars much bigger, heavier, and with worse visibility than necessary, make the roads more dangerous for everyone else—motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, everyone.

The whole thing's turning into an expensive, dangerous game of prisoner's dilemma. It's best if everyone buys exactly as much car as they need, but anyone who "defects" and buys a bigger, heavier car is safer than everyone else, while making everyone else a little less-safe. Iterate for a few decades and you get the current situation.

However, begging individuals to behave differently isn't going to fix the problem. Certainly not in the US.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#134

Post by nicbou »

Syonyk wrote: post #17

The local Mahindra dealer also seems to be doing a brisk business with their Roxors - they're almost literally a 1950s Jeep with a modern diesel engine in them. It's the same market niche - small, off highway use, utility vehicles. And at least out here, you're allowed to run around on the roads at least some with them to get between fields.

I've seen what Mahindras can do in Nepal. These things are amazing.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#135

Post by yamtaddle »

tshaddox wrote: post #44
joewhale wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's easy to throw rocks when you personally don't have 3-4 kids.

You probably won’t fit more than 2 kids in a gigantic pickup truck either. And you’ll mostly see them empty apart from the driver anyway.

A lot of the popular models have full-size back seats. They've got more room back there, and are easier to get at (to, say, strap a kid into a car seat, or to add/remove a car seat) than many sedans.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#136

Post by germinalphrase »

Marsymars wrote: post #62
nonethewiser wrote: post #11

I can see the utility but most country road speed limits are gonna be 50 mph+. I wouldn’t want to drive it there. Dirt roads or on your land, sure. Regardless, they look pretty cool. A cheaper option, but lower quality, might be some small trucks from China. It will also be interesting to see how Fords Maverick catches on. May not quite fill this niche but seems like a good option overall.

Problem with the Ford Maverick is that it’s only available in crew cab with a 4.5 ft bed, which is really a sub-par configuration if your priorities are in moving stuff rather than people.

And no 4wd option on the hybrid.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#138

Post by tgtweak »

I see these all over the place in asiapac, especially at resorts for staff and maintenance to get around on smaller pathways in lieu of golf carts or runabouts. It makes a lot of sense when you consider that they are easy to move around on a small boat/ferry and can be used on the roads. These places also have a much high percentage of motorbikes, scooters and ATVs and the same garages/shops that service those can service these smaller engines with readily accessible parts.

The fact they can't really be driven on interstates/highways is the only thing that would make it difficult to sell them here as new vehicles.

Given how well the ford maverick is selling, and the successful introduction of the hyundai santacruz (and soon-to-be-introduced chevy montana) I think it's safe to bet there would have been a decent market for new vehicles in this segment if the manufacturers could get them highway-compatible.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#139

Post by kitsunesoba »

camhenlin wrote: post #13

I’ve looked into one of these and they’re completely illegal in my state, no way to register them without gaming different dmv stations and getting a clueless dmv rep who doesn’t know what they’re looking at, to register it. This is Oregon. Really unfortunate situation as these fit a lot of use cases that would previously require something as big as a gas guzzling Ford F150 otherwise.

As someone else living in the PNW, I’ve read that people in Oregon permits kei trucks, but won’t allow them to be registered and to work around this, people will register them in Washington and then bring them down.
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