Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick are two recent models moving in the right direction for those of us who would like to see true mini-pickups return to the US.
You know that is never coming back right? Safety standards do not allow vehicles of that size and profile.
There are multiple references to the 1st gen Tacomas in this thread and I'm having a hard time understanding why it keeps being brought up. It's a 20-25 year old vehicle
It keeps being brought up because there is a pent up demand for them.
Safety standards are BS. If Mazda can and does keep the Miata complaint with safety standards while preserving the bulk of the original Miata soul, then these other manufacturers could do the same with mini trucks.
The real problem is they don't have to. Bigger vehicles have better profit margins, and the chicken tax limits competition. Repeal the chicken tax and you'd see plenty of entrants. Mahindra was even making serious motions of bringing the parts in and assembling here in the US to get around the obnoxious chicken tax but ended up not following through :( They had all the certifications they needed - even from the EPA, so it's far from impossible to have a modern mini truck if the government didn't have their thumb on the market.
What? How? They have strikingly similar towing and payload. There’s nothing wrong or different about a unibody. It’s actually preferable in a lot of ways for small trucks