Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
You must be looking at a different Ranger than the ones I've seen. The Toyota (and its Datsun counterpart) that I drove in the '70s were a lot smaller than the Ranger the guy down the street has. Even my '88 Toyota is smaller.
But I live in one of those western states :-) And questions of materials, manufacturing quality & durability are entirely separate from form factor. I do remember from my childhood in the northeast that pretty much all cars rusted out within a few years, so it's hardly a problem unique to Toyota.
You've got a circular argument going there. If the Ranger is the smallest thing available today, it's pretty hard to determine what the market would be for something smaller - especially after a couple of decades of advertising the pickups on steroids that Detroit wants to sell, but can't when gas is heading to $4.50. I know I'd have bought a smaller pickup with better fuel economy if one was available (used, of course). I imagine that for instance fleet managers would be happy to send service people out in smaller trucks, if it'd save them money.
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If fleet sales drove the market you would be right, but the general public that buys the majority of these trucks wants more. My friend Skip was able to get a basic Ranger and similar units probably fill fleets, but people like the extra room of the Supercabs. Look at what Toyota builds today. Why did the Tacoma get bigger? Because that's what people wanted. Look at the T-100 debacle. Toyota thought they could convice Americans they don't need big trucks with V8s. They were right, but people didn't WANT them. And let's not blame the Detroit marketing machine for the expansion of truck sales. Americans figured out that trucks were very versatile and Detroit figured out that the more trucks offered creature comforts and better ride the more they sold. Add in the backlash against the more practical minivan and you have the surge in SUVs. Nobody owns these vehicles because they didn't want them. You can't blame the automakers for giving the people what they want. Look at the Accord: when it first came to America it was a COMPACT and now it is classed as a LARGE car. Civics have grown from sub-compacts to compacts and are knocking on the midsize class door. The market drove that.
The unexpected rise in oil prices is eerily similar to the gas shortages of the '70s: a truly seismic event that changes the desires of the car buying public in a heartbeat. The survivors will be better car companies.