Quote:
Originally Posted by upflying
Besides Austrailia, Brazil also has a El Camino. Called the Chevrolet Montana in that country. It's unibody, 4 cyl and front wheel drive. Ugly as hell and I say no phucking way but remember American trucks must average 26 mpg by 2016. Our government wants you to drive and own this.
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Okay folks...
A car-based "truck" is not automatically called an "El Camino." An El Camino was a specific vehicle built by GM way back when. A car-based "truck" is known as a "ute" or "coupe utility."
Now say what you will about the Ute's design (irrelevant since the VF-based Ute is coming soon), but it's a very viable product with today's market. Let's take a look at the current truck market.
We have GM with the Silverado/Sierra and Colorado/Canyon. Ford with the F-Series and Ranger. Ram with the Ram Pickup and Dakota. The Japanese makes are as relevant in the US truck market as the pile of cow sh*t the Holstein I judged earlier today dropped.
Now picture a suburban family that is looking for something with utility. They don't really need a full-size truck, they're just looking for something they can use to move Junior to college and back every year and pick up some stuff from Home Depot every now and then. With the current truck market, you're basically forced into a full size. The current crop of midsizers are terrible. Either they're outdated, offer fuel economy close to or no better than full-size trucks, or are priced so close to full-size trucks that you might as well go with the larger option.
A ute solves that problem. You have enough bed space to haul a decent sized payload with much better fuel economy than a truck and priced at an affordable level.
Now make no mistake, real trucks will always have a place in the North American market. GM and Ford are both working on improving fuel economy of their trucks without sacrificing power. That being said, they can't change the laws of Physics, and as it stands right now, trucks pale in comparison to cars in the fuel economy department. A ute may be a decent solution for many people until someone figures out a miraculous way to drastically improve the fuel economy of full size trucks.