From The Detroit News:
Friday, December 28, 2007From Dearborn Classsics:
Toyota to roll out concept pickup
Small hybrid truck to debut at Detroit auto show adds solar panels to charge GPS system and displays.
Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
Toyota Motor Corp. will unveil a concept for a small hybrid pickup at the North American International Auto Show in January.
There is a place for the "car-truck", but is it the future for the "truck-truck"? Apparently so if 35 mpg is the bottom line.
1957 Ranchero Custom with Two tone paint scheme
The Ford Ranchero was produced by the Ford motor company from 1957 through 1979. This unique vehicle was the first of its kind being the first car with a truck bed. In the 23 years of total production, there were a total of 508,355 units produced. After the immediate success of the Ford Ranchero, Chevrolet proceeded to try and duplicate their own version of the Ranchero in 1959, but the Ranchero was the original "car-truck".
There is no future for trucks like these:
That may be a good thing from the perspective of saving fuel. That may be a bad thing from the perspective of having a useful vehicle. After all, the Ranchero only sold a fraction of the sales volume for the F100/F150. It was a cute idea, but had limited practicality.
The Honda Ridgeline has enjoyed the same modest success as the Ranchero. It is advertised as a vehicle for the "Urban Wild"... probably because truly it is not capable as a commercial truck.
But Congress has assured us that we will all want and benefit from vehicles such as the Toyota concept.Maybe the 3rd time will be a charm.
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