There is another issue at play too, besides the CAFE standards. Being built on a "truck" body means that a lot of safety regulations that applied to cars didn't have to be obeyed, making them cheaper. This was also true for behemoths like the Chevy Suburban.
This is true, and I think it equates to higher profit margins. So, the manufacturers will market and push harder to get them sold.
Here in the SF bay area, you wouldn't know that pickup trucks are so popular in the USA, but if you go to more rural areas they are predominant.
Once my wife had some relatives from rural Texas visiting and was showing them her new small car. They were unimpressed and kept shaking their heads saying "that can't haul anything"...
It seems a lot of truck marketing is around towing capacity...
In some cases people would be better off having a small car and renting a truck when they need to haul things, but a lot of people want a vehicle "ready for anything" at a moments notice, so they drive their big truck all the time even as a lone driver with no load to carry.
Last edited by a moderator: