[salamanderss]

Pickup trucks are huge in large part because of fuel efficiency regulations like CAFE which regulate fuel use per unit area. Ironically deregulating fuel efficiency would make small efficient pickups sellable again. Also repealing chicken tax would help allow economical imports. The domestic demand for remaining compact ranger/s-10/Tacoma is massive. But it's basically illegal economically to sell more.

I'd have definitely driven a compact in from Mexico were it not also illegal to permanently import them before 25 years old under most circumstances .

[rootusrootus]

As far as I understand it, some of the most popular pickups in North America are basically unregulated already. Ford certainly isn't advertising the mileage on an F250, and as an HD truck I'm pretty sure the feds give it a pass altogether. I know there is discussion about it for future HD trucks, but as far as I can tell that's still a few years off.

I could be totally wrong, though, this is not an area I'm an expert in. But I do own an F250 that routinely gets sub-10 mpg unloaded. Fortunately I only drive it a couple thousand miles a year to tow my trailer, otherwise I'd feel a bit guilty about how brutally inefficient it is. HD trucks also suck as daily drivers IMO, the suspension is so stiff that it would ride better with a couple thousand pounds of ballast in the back. One of my neighbors does exactly that. Probably doesn't impact the gas mileage, can't go a lot lower...

[codersfocus]

That’s the whole point. They enacted a stupid MPG formula into law. So instead of manufacturers trying to make a compact pickup get 50mpg, they just sell big old f250s because the formula lowers down the MPG requirement dramatically.

[salamanderss]

Malicious industry capture is more likely explanation than stupidity IMO. Sell bigger more expensive shit while shutting down economical competition.