Running Rings Around the Conventional Pickup Truck
With all the bravado of a Johnny-come-lately who doesn't care that the party has already started and the house is crowded, Honda is set to crash into the pickup truck segment.
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| The Honda SUT concept vehicle has just rolled out on stage at the Detroit Auto Show, shattering the notion that the Japanese carmaker will never make a pickup truck. (Photo: Honda Canada) |
The thing is, with Honda's recent track record of success, its SUT (Sport Utility Truck) concept that was shown off Jan. 4 at the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit will be a hard vehicle to pooh-pooh or ignore.
While Honda calls the five-seat SUT a "truck" (it does have an open-air five-foot-long cargo bed after all), the company seems to be targeting the market segment currently occupied by the Ford Explorer Sport Trac and Chevrolet Avalanche with gusto.
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| Thomas Elliot, the executive vice president, American Honda Motor Inc., says that the Honda SUT represents a next-generation truck for a new wave of truck buyers. (Photo: Honda Canada) |
"By combining the utility of a pickup, the practicality of an SUV and the advantages of unibody design--including better packaging, improved comfort and superior ride and handing dynamics--the Honda SUT represents a next-generation truck for a new wave of truck buyers, with more refined tastes and active, outdoor-oriented lifestyles," said Tom Elliot, executive vice president, American Honda Motor Inc.
Most pickup trucks and SUVs, including the Explorer Sport Trac, are built with the traditional, rugged body-on-frame construction method, with stiff frame rails underneath, which allow car companies to fairly easily and cheaply design new bodies to drop on top of the chassis. But, these designs are heavier and may not always be optimized for the best ride, steering and handling. Cars, that used to incorporate body-on-frame architecture, moved toward unibody designs to shave weight in the quest for improved gas mileage. Could this be a good move for trucks as well? Honda seems to think so.