autoevolution's Truck Month

We like to call them, simply, trucks. Europeans and others add the “pickup” prefix in there, in the vast expanses of the Australian continent they are at times referred to as “utes,” while in Africa, “bakkie” is what hits the right spot. But no matter where you are, you all know what these incredible machines are all about.

Last year, the American market swallowed 14.5 million new vehicles. The top three best-selling nameplates accounted for 13 percent of that, and they were all trucks: the Ford F-150, the Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram’s machines. Together with the GMC Sierra and Toyota Tacoma, they occupied five of the top ten spots for best selling vehicles in the U.S. in 2020.

Pickups have been around since forever. Gottlieb Daimler’s No. 42 is believed to have been the first one ever built in 1896, but it was quickly followed by a flood of similar contraptions, coming from companies like Autocar or Reo.

It wasn’t until 1917 that America first got its taste of a pickup truck for the masses. It came in the form of the Ford Model TT, a workhorse built on the skeleton of the Model T and inspired by the military trucks that served in the First World War.

More car companies joined in, and by the 1950s there were so many trucks out there that people started buying them to use not only as farm or business equipment, but as personal rides as well.

It was from that point onward that these machines moved from being simple means of cargo-hauling to rides meant to be enjoyed on the road, taken for a night out, or off the beaten path. They are now used for pretty much everything, from taking the kids to school to going on dates, and they’ve even gotten involved in drag racing. And don’t even get us started on what trucks, old and new, mean for the custom industry today.

The pickup truck segment is presently so large that it’s impossible to get a comprehensive look at it without a directed effort. This is why February 2021 is Truck Month here at autoevolution, a time for our army of writers to go head-on into this segment as we try and capture the essence of the almighty truck.

Editor's note: This special feature by autoevolution was not sponsored or supported by a third-party.