General Motors Pickup Truck Closes: Is this The End Of The Pickup?

nytimes.com:

PONTIAC, Mich. -- The closing of a big General Motors truck plant this week is another sign that America's love affair with pickup trucks is fading fast.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[Alarmist]

god, i hope so. How many people with pickup trucks do you actually see hauling stuff in their pickup trucks? Hardly anyone. It's a wasted vehicle, wasting space and gasoline.

[marijam]

Are you kidding? No, it's not the end of the pickup truck. A lot of people actually use them for their employment and many others use them when they own a home and want to haul things in them. The automotive manufacturers need to get on the ball, though, and come out with clean diesel models that get much better mileage than anything on the market now.

[therealredstateblues]

Exactly

the number one selling vehicle in the world continues to be the Ford F series truck

as you state , contractors, municiple and utility fleets, farmers, contractors, tradesmen, do it yourselfers, sportsmen continue to be the largest consumers of trucks

[The Meek]

Hey there mister therealred­stateblues­, you totally misread my statements below and projected your thoughts onto what I was saying. You have no idea of what I have done or how I made my living. If you could read and comprehend you would have noticed that I like pickups. I really do not appreciate you misinterpreting my comments.

[therealredstateblues]

Also

GM is merely consolidating the Pontiac truck plant production to a Flint plant and the Ft Wayne plant - newer plants. the Ft wayne plant was just put back into full production with third shift being added as well

the pick up isn't going anywhere soon

[MontanaMan]

Hauling a season's worth of firewood in my wife's Toyota just isn't practical and I really don't want to bring home two yards of eco-compost or manure for her gardens in the back of her car. We drive the gas efficient car when we can and the truck when necessary and in rural parts of the country that is quite often. If I'm not using it I'm hauling or towing a plethora of things for friends. It's not a macho thing and the gas is nothing to write home about but when you need a truck you need a truck. If I was unfortunate enough to have to live in a large city with the traffic and crazies I would give up the truck.
Almost forgot, a slide in camper doesn't fit too well inside of a mid size car either.

[PaulPete]

We need more Taibbi and Roubini ..they are the ones who speak on behalf of REAL Americans; not Beck, Hannity and Palin

hat tip to; http://www.iamned.com

The f0x news 1diot box is ruining America

[Antiks]

I love having a pickup truck. When you need one you need one, but I didn't go out an buy a full sized brand new truck. I bought a used regular cab toyota for 7 grand. When I was looking at the new trucks, I couldn't believe how much dealers wanted for an extra/extended cab. We're talking an increase on the prices of about 7 thousand dollars or so. It was ludicrous.

[rkimball]

at $40,000 for a well equiped full size p/u, who can afford one let alone the gas?

[viperhawk2k4]

Well, what do they expect!? Who would pay 30,000$ for a pick-up truck? Thats outrages!. They shouldn't cost more than 15,000 tops.

[verycold]

Apparently you have no reason for a p/u which is fine, but those of us that live rural and have a farm are sick to death of the constant bashing. I use my truck every single day and so do my neighbors. We are the people putting food on your table.

[The Meek]

Hmm, I wasn't aware of the "constant" bashing that farmers get over owning a pickup truck. In fact this is the first time I have heard about it and I have farmers in my family and have worked for farmers.

[Keith Mayass]

actually Walmart is putting food on my table.... furthermore no american products....

bananas from costa rica
potatoes from canada
tomatoes from mexico
rice from china
pasta from italy

i could go on and on .
just curious what you carry in your truck those days... maybe a generator from Japan..

[BGDiNLV]

PERIOD!!!! GREED MY FRIENDS!!!

[Fabini]

The pickup truck is far less relevant today than it ever was. In the "cash for clunkers" program, 84% of all trade-ins were pickup trucks. I really pity the extended cab, long bed, dually drivers.

[Harlyridr]

Thank you for your pity but I think you're just envious that we truck owners actually USE them for work and play. Who you should pity is the giant SUV owners that will never take their big honker off road for any reason. Suburbans, Expeditions, big Toyota's that all these "Soccer Mom" types are driving.

I think you make up your facts as you go, pick up trucks are just as relevant as they were in the 50's and 60's if not more so than before. My truck is a working truck, couldn't do the same type of work in a frickin honda civic now could I?

[therealredstateblues]

he is making this up, the number 1 trated in vehicle was the Ford Explorer an SUV

yes pickups were also traded in and the reason is there are so many of them - the Ford and Chevy trucks were and still are the number one and number 2 selling vehicles for over 3 decades trucks outsold cars by very large margins - so it stands to reason a lot were traded in

the same with the Explorer - it was the number one selling SUV for almost 20 years

[AlteSoldier]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy .

Having a big gas burner is a killer in this economy.

[Harlyridr]

Check out the law enforcement folks that use Suburbans and the big unmarked blacked out SUV's, at least they're using them in Maine, see them everyday, guess the gov't can afford to feed the big guzzlers huh?

[kelo]

If only they could make trucks fuels efficient and keep the cost of buying one down it would help. I recently went from las vegas to sacramento in my sisters 2008 gmc(1/2 ton i think) and it only took one tank of gas, because supposedly it goes to four cylinders on the highway even though its a v8.

[davidwayneosedach]

Who needs a macho pickup truck in the urban jungle?

A macho man...

[Bee]

If you look on the road, pickup truck beds are empty 90% of the time. Save yourself the gas and money. If you need a truck or a van for a day, you can rent one at Enterprise.

[BGDiNLV]

That is a good idea. Thanks

[Harlyridr]

Yep, that's what I'll do when I'm thinking about taking hogs to market and when I pick up feed, I'll call Enterprise and pay double what I would by owning my own truck, what a grand republican idea......

[ranch111]

We've got a '03 Toyota Tundra SR5 witha V6 and a '92 4Runner v6. Not very good gas mileage, but we don't drive that much. I ride the bus to work. My wife stays home with the kid. Both extremely useful in their own way. Both paid for. And no, we won't help you move.

[ResidualSelfImage]

In New Hampster many people have their trucks for bad weather.
They have have bought 4 cylinder cars for saving gas that they drive mostly.

[Artos]

Yeah I would buy a truck, but they're to damn expensive. now. I owned two small toyota pickups but they weren't nearly as good as a advertised, the only plus was that neither cost me over 7 K, I sure am not about to pay more than what my parents first house cost for one. A truck to me is all about utility and that's all, I don't expect to live in one. I sure don't need all the luxuries and crap they put in them today. If they had left them alone instead of making them into toys for idiots consumed with making them pretty, these trucks would still be affordable. Instead they forgot what the damn things were meant for.

[BBackSoon]

The fact that most top of the line trucks are as nice as a Cadillac is bad enough and then they went out and built a Cadillac Truck!

I do not use a truck for work. So I will never buy a new one. But I could use a spare vehicle that is a truck. So used and beat up is what I am looking for.