I have often thought that our transportation problems can be largely solved by the re-introduction of the pared-down small pickup truck, similar to the Toyotas, Datsuns and Mazdas of years past, i.e. the 1970s:
Then I came upon this article, which talks about Toyota’s current attempt to do just that, the result looking something like this:
The 70s light pickups look almost dainty by comparison, but that’s because Nanny Gummint decrees that even the simplest and most basic of cars need to have all sorts of safety equipment included. (By comparison, the earlier pickups had about as much safety equipment as a skateboard. My old Mazda pickup from that era didn’t even have seat belts.)
And as for selling such things for only $10,000? I’ll bet Mr, Free Market’s country house that not one American car manufacturer would even give lip service to the concept.
Not when a loaded F-150 sells for $75,000 and yields about $25,000 profit.
Afterthought: my last Chicago car was a Mazda B4000 (similar to the Ford Ranger of the early 1990s), and I loved it. I lost it in the Great Divorce Of 1996, and Ex-Wife drove it until (I think) 2012.
All the power I’d ever need, complete reliability, plus room for guns in the little extended cab. If I could get its clone (11,000 miles on the clock as it had when I bought it, for $9,000) I’d grab it now with both hands.