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Pick-up lines: Why more people than ever are leasing pick-up trucks

Image of James Fossdyke
Author: | Updated: 03 Mar 2016 14:56

America is famed for its love of pick-up trucks. In fact, three of the best-selling vehicles of 2015 – the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram – are all pick-ups.

More than 780,000 F-150s were sold Stateside in 2015, and the Silverado sold more than 600,000 units in the same year. It outsold the Ford Mustang by a multiple of five.

Ford F-150 White Front Static

On this side of the Atlantic, the tiny Ford Fiesta is still king and probably will be for some time to come, but the pick-up is a rising star.

Vehicles like the Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara and Toyota Hilux are suddenly appealing to a whole new target market, and it seems that the days of pick-ups being the sole domain of farmhands and tradesmen are gone.

Nissan’s communications director, David Jackson, explained the magnitude of the shift in buying habits: “Today the pick-up customers tend to be affluent – 90% of new Navara sales will be in top-of-the-range Tekna trim,” he told us as Nissan launched its new pick-up.

This new influx of pick-up customers has had a profound effect on sales. In 2015 alone, 40,000 new pick-ups were registered in the UK – a 20% increase on 2014’s figures.

top:UK Pick-ups

Why the sudden change in attitudes?

There are plenty of theories as to why customers have suddenly taken notice of the truck market.

Some say the post-recession rise in the number of self-employed has brought in a demand for commercial vehicles that double up as family cars, and the SUV-like pick-ups are the best combination.

Others, such as dealer Colin Appleyard, say that it’s all about being different and the image of these two-tonne leviathans.

“We're seeing dozens of middle-aged men drive off with larger-than-life American-style trucks," said Robin Appleyard, managing director of the family-run business. “While we sell pick-ups to traders and the traditional White Van Man, these are office workers, executives and just everyday blokes who want to drive something that's not a family saloon.”

It’s a theory backed up by the stats. Over a quarter of all pick-up searches on ContractHireAndLeasing.com during 2015 were for personal deals, indicating that people are looking at trucks for wholly private use.

Isuzu D-Max Fury 2015 Front Static

Appleyard has gone even further, however, and thinks women are playing a big role in the decision, persuading their menfolk to opt for the beefy trucks rather than the sports cars and motorbikes that often arrive during the mid-life crisis.

“He wanted a great big Harley Davidson for his midlife crisis,” one woman told Appleyard of her husband. “There's no way I'm letting him get up on two wheels. He hasn't even ridden a pushbike in twenty years.”

Others seem more concerned with the bulky trucks’ macho connotations.

One woman told the West Yorkshire dealer that she wanted her husband to go for a pick-up so he would “be like those blokes you see in the films. You know – rugged and manly.”

Mitsubishi L200 2015 Blue Front Off-Road

Changing faces

Because of this sudden change in the marketplace, the pick-ups that populate it are changing with the times.

Both Nissan and Mitsubishi’s latest models claim to be more “SUV-like”, and the top-spec models have been adorned with chrome trim and countless gadgets and gizmos more commonly seen on crossover SUVs.

Don’t think these trucks are becoming less capable, though, because their credibility depends on their load-carrying and off-road ability, and because it is necessary for the commercial vehicle classification that lends these trucks their tax benefits.

The key is providing a vehicle that works as both a family SUV and a commercial vehicle.

Nissan Navara 2016 Front Dynamic

Which trucks are most popular?

ContractHireAndLeasing.com’s search data shows that pick-ups are becoming more popular almost with each passing month, and that’s true of pretty much every truck and every lease term, but there are a few clear winners.

Top of the business leasing tree is the Volkswagen Amarok (below), which accounts for almost a third of all searches, while the Ford Ranger is the more popular vehicle for personal customers, also taking around a quarter of the search traffic.

Other popular choices include the Mitsubishi L200, Nissan Navara and Toyota Hilux.

Volkswagen Amarok 2015 Front Dynamic

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