New data suggests that America’s love affair with hulking trucks may be coming to an end.
According to a US auto market report from dealership mergers specialists Dave Cantin Group and Kaiser Associates, America has reached “peak truck”, with the economic evidence “mounting” that consumer preferences are changing.
At the core of the new trend? Cost. The survey in the report found that the number of people who believe that their next vehicle will be a truck or SUV fell 3 percent compared to last year, noting that “consumer preferences are finally moving away from trucks and SUVs toward more affordable sedans, driven by concerns over vehicle affordability.”
With the average price of a new truck hovering around $60,000, compared to $39,233 for cars, the bang for your truck buck just doesn’t quite cut it like it used to for inflation-weary consumers.
In summer 2024, the Ford CEO Jim Farley acknowledged that American consumers are in “love with these monster vehicles” but said they need to “get back in love” with small cars. “We have to start to get back in love with smaller vehicles. It’s super important for our society and for EV adoption,” Farley said. Now, according to InsideEVs, he's putting that warning into practice at Ford, saying that the blue oval would focus on small to medium-sized electric vehicles that present a stronger economic case than "monster" trucks.
If Jim Farley's and the US auto market report's prediction does come true, it will be calling time on a trend that has dominated America’s streets for decades. As the world’s wealthiest country fell in love with the space, comfort, and utility of bigger vehicles, the share of truck SUVs in the market raced up from 24 percent in 2014 to 45 percent a decade later, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.