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  Matt Beale

  4 months ago

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  This design change also required some uncharacteristic boldness on the part of the executives.
  
  I may not get this story exactly right, but it is so long since I read the Bob Lutz book "Guts" that it comes from. He wrote that when they consumer-tested this new "big-rig" design against a then conventional design, a larger percentage of pickup owners preferred the conventional design. However, a smaller percentage of all pickup truck owners LOVED the big-rig design. Standard marketing-think at the time was to go with the design people preferred. But Lutz reasoned that the only way for Chrysler to grow their tiny share in lucrative pickups (around 5%) was to convert buyers of other brands to Chrysler would take passion, not mere preference. And the percentage of people passionate about the big-rig design, although fewer than those who preferred the conventional design, was something like twenty percent -- four times Chrysler's market share.
  
  Unfortunately, this very successful appeal to emotion, coupled with US light trucks' exemption from CAFE fuel economy standards and cheap gas, set off a race to ever larger and more powerful pickup trucks, often sold to customers who had no use for a pickup truck at all. The aftermarket solved the ergonomic problems of higher and higher truck beds with a variety of tailgate steps and ladders: http://tiny.cc/gsva2y. And each of the Detroit automakers have now added a mid-sized pickup, similar in size to the full-sized trucks of a few decades ago. https://www.ford.com/trucks/ranger/. But we're still putting a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere fueling those big-rig fantasies.

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  Dave Eyvazzadeh

  4 months ago

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  I'd be very curious to see how vehicle safety design standards changed in the early 90's. More and more vehicle designers are constrained by regulations that dictate aspects for things such as pedestrian safety. Sometimes they are given costly design-arounds when performance is on the line (e.g. https://jalopnik.com/5405312/nissan-gt-r-hits-tow-hitch-causes-18000-repair-bill) 
  
  I imagine there might have been something about trucks and SUV's creating more of a peripheral pedestrian/bicyclist deflection functionality versus the pedestrian catcher of yesteryear. Take the '93 Dodge picture you provided for example. You'll never see OEM vertical bumper protectors anymore. 
  
  Our safety standards are not as pedestrian focused as European standards, but since international sales make up for a large revenue stream for manufacturers, it would make sense that American car companies want to keep their international sales options as open as possible. 

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  Skot Lowery

  4 months ago

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  I distinctly remember when that trend emerged- noting how they borrowed the look from big rigs. I thought it was a great change at the time

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  Luke Haney

  4 months ago

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  This is just my opinion, but these new Chevy trucks just appear as big, stupid rectangle blocks on wheels to me. They're such an eyesore. 

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  • 

    Dave Eyvazzadeh

    Luke Haney

    4 months ago

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    Agreed. Of the 2019 line-up shown I would place them in in the following order with zero brand loyalty:

    1) Dodge

    2) Ford

    3) Lego

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  Ryan Hume

  4 months ago

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  That 93 Ram tho.... like it's just waiting for Stallone to jump it off a cliff

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