America’s love affair with the pickup stumbles

…In March, Bucky Hacker traded his 2002 Dodge Ram Quad Cab pickup for a subcompact car, the Mazda 3. Hacker, a student from Oak Ridge, Tenn., originally bought the Ram to tow a boat, and thought its macho appearance would help him attract girls.

But there were drawbacks. “Gas was ridiculous,” Hacker, 24, said. “The thing got 13 miles per gallon.” His Mazda averages twice that, or 26 mpg in city and highway driving, and it will be easier to fit into tight parking spaces at the University of Tennessee, where he plans to study political science this fall.


Hacker touches on a reason sales have dropped: a growing sense of environmental responsibility among consumers that has flared along with gas prices. That, and an uncertain housing market, which prompted many contractors to delay purchasing new trucks, have combined to cut into pickup truck sales, which are down 5 percent so far this year from an already weak market last year. That is more than double the decline in industry sales overall, which are down 2 percent this year.

Because of the decline, automakers expect pickups to post their lowest sales this year since the beginning of the decade, even with incentives.

AP