Pickup truck sales are the hottest they have been in decades. For example, from January 2017 to January 2018, 186,831 units were sold, making pickup trucks the second most popular in terms of light-duty trucks. Truck manufacturers today are making pickup trucks with broader appeal, with a softer ride and more safety, convenience, and comfort features.
Because of these new features, pickup trucks are now attracting more buyers, including families who want backseats and more cab space. These people don’t seem to mind losing truck bed length for the extra room inside. When people think of a pickup truck owner, a male probably comes to mind. However, the number of women who registered pickup trucks increased by 67% from 2008 to 2016.
According to David Elshoff, Ram brand spokesman, roughly 40% to 50% of their truck sales are family trucks. With this shift to family-friendly features, more features like exterior appearance, safety, and technology are now more important than ever, coming in close to traditional features like hauling, towing, and off-road ability. Manufacturers like Ford are offering things like larger cab options, a quiet interior, and more luxury features.
Even the residents of California are choosing pickup trucks over the increasingly popular electric vehicles. According to the California New Car Dealers Association, pickup trucks outsold electric vehicles by a 3-1 ratio last year.
“Electric vehicles are popular out here, especially in the cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles,” said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst at Edmunds.com. “But the rest of California is rural, and, outside the cities, pickups are everywhere.”
In general, it seems that Americans are straying from cars. In 2017, 25% of new registered vehicles in California were small cars, which is down from 31% of the market in 2012. At the same time, demand for vehicles with more space have captured more than half of the market.
Even Tesla has noticed this trend. Sales are down for their electric cars in California from 2016. They are releasing a new model, the Model 3, to boost electric-vehicle sales.
“We do expect the Model 3 to do well in California, but we are probably many, many years away from electric vehicles coming close to passing pickup trucks,” said an official from Tesla. 