[analog31]

How people use the vehicles that they buy is pretty well understood from the market research done by the car industry. In the US, the widespread use of pickup trucks a passenger vehicles is a known fact.

An odd thing is that my family visited a rural part of England last year, and we saw very few pickup trucks on the roads and in the towns. On a walking tour, you see a lot of farms up close because the paths go through farms and along fence lines. The farms had utility vehicles including light trucks, but they also had regular passenger cars.

[hdgvhicv]

There was a phase where these ghastly large pickups with four doors were common. Never had a drop of mud on them, but they were available tax free as a “work vehicle”, so no income tax on it.

They are ridiculous in the lanes round here, and invariably are in the disabled parking spaces at the shop as they are too large to fit in normal spaces

[throwaway219450]

There isn’t much need in the UK. Farmers use tractors or vehicles like the classic 4x4 Land Rover, Subarus, etc. None of the roads or the infrastructure are designed for American size pickups, especially not the countryside. If people need to move something big, they hire a van.

People are also extremely sensitive to fuel costs and an enormous car that guzzles gas and can’t be parked on a tiny village road is a downside. Bear in mind gas in Europe is like $8/gal and salaries are much lower.

The statement car of choice for people who don’t need the functionality is the modern luxury Land/Range rover (ie the Chelsea tractor).