The Death of Small Pickup Trucks

A truck is a wonderful thing to have fora variety of reasons. You found a great deal on an antique china cabinet. Someone in your family needs to move to a new home. You don't want to put ten bags of top soil in your sedan. Your lawn mower needs service. Farmers, tradespeople, and everyday folk can find plenty of uses for a truck, but the new trucks sold today are way too big, fancy, and expensive. The Chevy LUV truck could haul stuff perfectly well, and the Chevy S-10 was easy to park compared with the behemoths sold today. For some time, I drove a '99 extended cab Silverado that seemed huge compared to earlier trucks I had, but it was dwarfed by 21st-century trucks. What happened to small trucks? Sure, there's the allure of profit, but there's more to it than that. Modern automotive regulations actually work against smaller, more economical trucks. (via reddit)