You know we hear quite a bit about Euroland lately. From Immigration waves to E.U. stability to Austerity measures to fears of Russian Expansionism. But one glaringly obvious detail is always overlooked or ignored.
It seems it's an elephant in the room that no one talks about and pretends isn't there.
Unlike my cousin Racer X, I don't look for obscure news stories to find out about this dreaded phenomenon, I prefer to go directly to the source for information.
So what gives? Why don't you people have any pickup trucks? Yes pick up trucks. Don't you people move? Don't you have garage bands? Broken motorcycles that need to go to the shop? I understand in France when people moe from house to house, they take their kitchen with them. You cram that into a Renault?
GO anywhere on the planet. North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia and you'll see them just about everywhere. But not in Europe. I know Volkswagen made a model back in the 70's and it sucked, but you shouldn't let that stop you. Hell. if Porsche can make a four door and an SUV, why can't Mercedes make a stepside or ferrari make an extended cab 4x4?
And no one talks about this. This is something important and should be looked at. And maybe Racer X SHOULD look for obscure conspiracy theories on this cause it's just that ominous.

Because vans and trailers exist.

We don't need pick up trucks, we have Ford Transits.

Vans will keep what you are carrying much safer as it has a roof where the stuff goes. So we have a better alternative.

Looks like this thread just backfired. Why aren't USA using vans and trailers instead of pickups?

Vans? Dad had a hippie van in the '70s. Couldn't see Sh!t out of them, sucked to drive on windy days and a complete pain in the butt to work on.
I have a truck with a roof on it. It's called a Chevy suburban. But there are things you need to haul that you really don't want to be cooped up with in a closed spaced too. And I've pulled trailers with it too.
Trailers? I have seen where y'all drive. Trailers? I know it's not all the twisted narrow street medieval enclaves hollywood likes to show, but still. I dunno. I would think a pickup would be as much of an in demand vehicle there as it is everywhere else.
Seriously though. I have even seen low-riders from Europe. Why didn't pickup trucks catch on?
I did see a dodge ram for sale in the UK on some sort of car website a few years ago. LOL it probably belonged to an ex-pat, huh? I wonder if he sold it?

..

Who needs pickups when these do the job perfectly fine and even better, the load is more secure:




They are also much more efficient, which is important because gas is NOT cheap here.

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When an open loading space is needed, there are open Vans called Pritschenwagen:


In a pickup it is harder to secure load, at high speeds (autobahn) wind could be problem.
Vans are easy to load because it is closed space. The side walls have hooks for ropes/belts but even if you just randomly cramp stuff inside it will be fairly secure.


With a pickup truck:

Maybe it is called "pickup" because afterwards you have to walk back the path and pick up the fallen stuff.

I think in EU there is more differentation between "work vehicle" and "personal car." Nobody would consider using such vehicles as daily driver. If a big Van is needed then it gets rented.

When I see an oversized, badly made, fuel drinking hunk of American junk then I laugh...be it a pick up or anything...they are only for the US of A.
A guy I know builds replica AC Cobra's for a living, now I do love a Cobra done right....but he drives a Ford F150( running with a gas conversion...natural gas...because it runs normally on petrol...), this thing is massive, in fact it is about the same size as a Mercedes Sprinter...I know which I would choose for "haulin stuff".

WTF ?????

You guys on crack or something ???

Pickups/Utes, welcome to the Australasian take on this !!!







Aussi/Kiwi V8 Ute Racing

We pi$$ on AC Cobras !, Want to haul something ?, try a NZ V8 Ute.

Quote from Anthoop :

When I see an oversized, badly made, fuel drinking hunk of American junk then I laugh...be it a pick up or anything...they are only for the US of A.
A guy I know builds replica AC Cobra's for a living, now I do love a Cobra done right....but he drives a Ford F150( running with a gas conversion...natural gas...because it runs normally on petrol...), this thing is massive, in fact it is about the same size as a Mercedes Sprinter...I know which I would choose for "haulin stuff".

You do realize Toyota is a Japanese brand - right? And coming from the folks that brought us the TR7 and Jaguars (crappy rebuilt ford) in general? You live in a glass house dude.

Gasoline prices.... I didn't ask how come Europe doesn't have big giant monster trucks. Just Pick-up trucks in general. Like an Izuzu 4cyl. diesel?

And the autobahn argument? LOLOLOL cross winds affect vans worse than pick-ups. A lot worse. That's one of the reasons why there's not a NASCAR van series.

And those pretty van pics. Yeah, try hauling a couple a hundred pounds of compost for about fifty miles in one of those a couple of hours before date night and tell me how that went.
But some things Y'all posted could be looked at. Someone posted about a truck being considered a commercial vehicle?. That makes sense as y'all over regulate everything to death. And then another reason was sort of hinted at. And kinda weird. But I've heard this before. That it's a class thing with y'all. You don't want to look like a lower class and you associate people that drives pick-ups as lower class. Really? It's 2016. Wake up. But I wouldn't think that feeling would be strong enough to kill off pick-up trucks for a continent. In fact, that line of thought should mean you'd have trucks coming out your ears instead. Chicks do like bad boys... counter culture rebellion... looking like a proletariat tough guy...those sorts of things.

I bet it has more to do with laws. Dimwits in your respective governments decided that since it has a bed it's automatically a commercial vehicle. That would make sense. I mean it doesn't... but it makes sense as far as it being something that would be done there - legal wise. Yeah. Stupid Bureaucrats and crooked pin head politicians and their incompetent knee jerk response to law making... And I gotta vote for one in November.

I dunno. It's a pretty interesting phenomenon though. And going by the responses, one that won't be figured out very easily.

Someone else posted something funny. They posted that about the only idiots that have trucks over there are making up for "inadequacies". LOLOLOLOL yeah. We got those types here too. A lot of them. We say it's cause they couldn't afford a porsche to make up for their inadequacy. Yeah. They'll have this hand stitched Italian leather with Walnut trim interior, state of the art entertainment system, $5k paint job and 300 plus horsepower. Yet you'll never see the owner of said truck putting so much as a bag of groceries in that bed.

Quote from Racer Y :

That it's a class thing with y'all. You don't want to look like a lower class and you associate people that drives pick-ups as lower class. Really? It's 2016. Wake up.

Trucks are also a class/status thing here. The bigger the truck, the more status.

Quote from Racer Y :

Chicks do like bad boys... counter culture rebellion... looking like a proletariat tough guy...those sorts of things.

In TV/movies that come from the imaginations of men? Sure. In real life? Not so much.

Quote from Racer Y :

Gasoline prices.... I didn't ask how come Europe doesn't have big giant monster trucks. Just Pick-up trucks in general. Like an Izuzu 4cyl. diesel?

We do... you can buy pretty much anything here all jap, ford, etc most main dealers/garages stock them or if you can find one/get one imported you can have what you want.. Seen plenty of american pickups and even the odd holden.

Pickups are fine if that is what the job needs, as posted though most people here use a van for work and a car for social use, rather than try and compromise with a pick up for both.

Also Commercial vehicles (Trucks) start over 3.5 Tonnes here not just because it has a flatbed lol.

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I'm missing the words describing my surprise about this thread actually... But having moved quite a few times, using a rented Renault Master, a Mercedes A-class and a Smart Coupé are all you need for a household

Quote from Forbin :

Trucks are also a class/status thing here. The bigger the truck, the more status.



In TV/movies that come from the imaginations of men? Sure. In real life? Not so much.

Guess again. Women, obviously not all, associate things like fancy cars with money, they associate money with security and stability. They associate someone driving a fast vehicle or a customized ride as having confidence. Something a lot of women like to see in a man. And speaking from experience, know how many times I've been hit on pumping gas in my bike? Especially a girl that's been stuck on the back of her boyfriend's crotch rocket for a while. But I think that's for different reasons. She's not checking out my butt. She's much more interested in what I put my butt on. Yeah... it feels kinda creepy when the girls are 20 somethings. And of course you have loser guys that buy things specifically to enhance their sexual attractivness factor.
Personally, even if I wasn't married, I really wouldn't want much to do with people that are that materialistic, but they're out there and their numbers are increasing. Besides, you've heard the saying sex sells. And a lot of these vehicles we drive fall under the category of Sex Appeal. How much sex appeal certain vehicle models have or doesn't have determines if it even gets manufactured.
But back to the subject.

OK my eurotype buddies. Thanks for your posts. What I've been given from all of you so far really doesn't show a single reason for this phenomenon. Most of your reasons point to why YOU PERSONALLY don't have one, not so much as to why they aren't popular continent wide. But add up all your reasons together and it would show that trying to market pick up trucks in Europe is a risky business venture. It would take one hell of a media blitz to get that to change. Add that in with various government regulations and vehicle standards and you've got yourself one big headache. I guess the bottom line is how much is the profits from doing so versus the costs of getting that to happen? Practicality? LOL gotta appreciate the Irony. The impracticability of marketing a practical vehicle. You can buy something as impractical as a classic vintage musclecar or a Supra twin turbo, two of the most impractical car types out there, yet selling S-10s or Sierras are a bad idea....
I dunno. It's still weird.
like:
Cars... Europe? check. Rest of the world? check
airplanes....Europe? check. Rest of the world? check
Buses.... Europe? Check. Rest of the world? check
Motorcycles... Europe? Check. Rest of the world? check
Pick up trucks... Europe? HUH? Rest of the world? What's up with Europe?


Wait.... found this:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/01/16/europes-best-selling-pickup-might-surprise-america.aspx

A ford Ranger? Really? Well. Now that explains things. Having a ranger versus just walking and dragging whatever it is you need to move? Make sure you have good shoes.
Also read somewhere that Mitsubishi is working with Fiat to market a truck designed by them and GM for European markets.
Well. That sucks. That means this could very well be a spam thread instead of something worth reading now, doesn't it?

You really seem to like pickups lol, I guess it just the differences in the way we do things over here compared to you guys over in the states.

I don't see why you are so shocked by it? We have many differences, take sport as an example. You have American Football, Baseball etc all of which is hardly watched/played over here, in a similar way we have Football, Rugby etc that has a much smaller market over there.

I don't really see the issue tbh

Speaking of Germany: A Ford F150 would be too big (Some of the regular roads would even be too small for a car of 2,40m width) and too heavy. You'd need a license for little lorries to de facto drive one of these on the roads. A driving license in Germany costs depending on how good (how many lessons your driving teacher wants you to take) you are something between 1500-2000€ With a fuel consumption of 0,2 l/km driving one km would cost currently 0,24€ a daily commuter trip (average 55km) would therefore cost around 6600€/year. Moreover these cars are not exported so it is not a regular walk to the store and order one, but a little bit more of an effort.

Quote from GAVD999 :

You really seem to like pickups lol, I guess it just the differences in the way we do things over here compared to you guys over in the states.

I don't see why you are so shocked by it? We have many differences, take sport as an example. You have American Football, Baseball etc all of which is hardly watched/played over here, in a similar way we have Football, Rugby etc that has a much smaller market over there.

I don't really see the issue tbh

Of course you do not see the issue....you are from some little island somewhere that most Americans could not pinpoint on a map.

Quote from Racer Y :

They associate someone driving a fast vehicle or a customized ride as having confidence.

I thought it's the opposite...

I live in the UK. It rains a lot. They are not pickups here, they are small, mobile swimming pools.

Quote from Racer Y :

...fears of Russian Expansionism...

Do they really tell you that on American TV? Because I've never heard of it lol

Anyway, it's called "lifestyle difference". We don't need to move stuff that oftenly, hence we don't need trucks, otherwise we would, it is really simple.

Quote from GAVD999 :

You really seem to like pickups lol, I guess it just the differences in the way we do things over here compared to you guys over in the states.

I don't see why you are so shocked by it? We have many differences, take sport as an example. You have American Football, Baseball etc all of which is hardly watched/played over here, in a similar way we have Football, Rugby etc that has a much smaller market over there.

I don't really see the issue tbh

Actually, No I don't. They're just another vehicle. I just noticed a big lack of pick up trucks in Europe.
And thought that was a bit odd.