Author: Doug Bentley, Head of Product Development at Klarius Products Ltd.
As the UK’s largest aftermarket exhaust manufacturer, we tend to notice car purchasing trends, and the growth in pick-up trucks on our roads has caught our attention.
I can think of two personal experiences that illustrate the development of pick-up trucks in the UK. The first was a frankly terrifying passenger ride in a highly tuned 1989 Volkswagen Caddy, the thin A-pillars providing the raucous experience with everything required to trigger a fight or flight response. A 2008 Nissan Navara borrowed from a construction company was my next exposure, the oodles of low-down torque providing hilarious entertainment inside a robust yet surprisingly well-appointed cabin.
Pick-up trucks have been used by UK farmers and tradesmen for decades. Farmers have always appreciated their reliability, cross country capabilities and load carrying capacity. Japanese pick-up trucks such as the legendarily Toyota Hilux were especially popular, evidenced by their omnipresence in rural areas. Tradesmen traditionally used pick-ups converted from cars, such as the VW Caddy or Ford P100.
Pick-up trucks are as American as cheese in a can, a national icon of hard work and freedom. The Ford F-150 is the country’s top selling vehicle year on year. However, pick-up trucks only started to properly catch on in the UK very recently.
The D40 Nissan Navara was instrumental in this during the mid-2000s. As SUVs garnered the negative headlines, pick-up trucks snuck under the radar. Any pick-up truck with a load carrying capacity of 1 ton or more qualifies for commercial vehicle tax breaks in the UK. This enticed many professionals to choose a Navara, Ranger, Hilux or D-Max over a Transit, Sprinter or Crafter.
Why choose an arguably less practical pick-up over a van? Well, the utilitarian workhorse was becoming more civilised. Improved road manners, luxurious interiors and the ability to seat up to five people in larger cab variants meant that pick-up trucks combined utility with luxury. Britain’s best-selling pick-up, the Ford Ranger, holds its market position because of these qualities. The ‘lifestyle’ pick-up, great offroad or when driving the family around on the weekend, had arrived.
The 2010s saw the arrival of most upmarket pick-up yet: the Volkswagen Amarok. Combining German refinement with offroad capability, it proved popular and illustrated that pick-up trucks in the UK were now fulfilling roles similar to their cousins across the pond.
Despite the market contracting over the past few years, the pick-up truck is still proving popular. While stalwarts such as the Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi L200 are no longer available as new (although still very popular on UK roads), recently launched models of the Volkswagen Amarok, Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max are all still battling for UK sales success.
We love pick-up trucks, whether they are old Toyotas out the fields or newer Volkswagens travelling to site. Consequently, we offer high quality replacement exhausts to fit every model previously mentioned and much more. If your truck needs an exhaust repair, pick-up a Klarius today.
Learn more about our range for pick-up trucks here, or call our customer service line for more information: 01538 752 561.