"On balance, we thought the 2009 Ford F-150 was the most significant pickup of the last decade," said Jim Hossack, vice president of consulting for AutoPacific. "It sells in high volume, owners like it and its body, chassis and powertrain are all first rate. Features abound, and there are more models, series and options than can be counted. It's a good looking truck and suitable for the widest possible range of tasks and uses."
The most significant trucks of the decade are:
- 2000 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab - First pickup truck to offer four full-sized doors and a configuration that prioritized passenger space over cargo capacity
- 2001 Chevrolet Silverado / GMC Sierra Heavy Duty with 6.6-Liter Duramax Diesel - Made GM a serious player in heavy duty pickups and raised the bar for diesel engines
- 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche - Combined the best attributes of a full-size SUV and pickup truck in a single vehicle
- 2004 Nissan Titan - The first true full-size half-ton pickup truck from a Japanese automaker
- 2005 Toyota Tacoma - The best-selling small truck in the U.S.
- 2006 Honda Ridgeline - Created a class of one with its unique unibody construction and a trunk in the bed
- 2007 Toyota Tundra - Toyota's no-holds-barred attempt to gain ground in full-size trucks
- 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 - Ditched conventional leaf springs for a coil spring rear axle and added side saddle storage to the cargo box
- 2009 Ford F-150 - most significant truck of the decade - Remains the gold standard against which other half-ton pickup trucks are compared
- 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor - Ford had the guts to build a go-fast pre-runner-style factory pickup for under $40K
"Despite the economic challenges of the past two years, it's hard not to look back at the last ten years without calling it the decade of the pickup truck," said PickupTrucks.com editor Mike Levine. "Sales of full-size pickups hit 2.56 million units in 2004 and Ford's F-Series trucks remain the nation's best-selling vehicles, 33 years in a row."
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