It's A Redneck World? Pickup Trucks Outsold Cars For The First Time Ever

Sitting in a fully equipped Ram you are reminded how far pickup trucks have come. I still sratch my head a bit and wonder how FCA pulled that vehicle out of their butt.

Chrysler was the first full-size pickup manufacturer to offer higher quality interiors with the first Ram redesign in 1993 and a comfortable drive.

This is the first time Ram styling has been revolutionized, since the 1989 styling approval of the '94 big rig model.

I never really liked the interior of the PN 96 F-Series sold from 1996 to 2004, it felt like a larger Ranger. The 1998-2007 GMT800s had nothing better to offer than comfortable cloth seats. Acres of plastic. Only the later PHN131 Super Duty (2001-07) and newer SDs had nice interiors, as the early SDs had awful rental car seat patterns.

The 2001-05 Ram offered the best American full-size interior, until Ford introduced the P221 in 2003. The facelift 2006 Ram went to the worst lows since 1993 on the interior. The redesigned DS Ram after 2008, matched and then surpassed Ford eventually. New DT Ram made that more obvious.

Why? Gifted designers Ryan Nagode, Ralph Gilles, and Claus... helped Chrysler rebound from an era of bad interiors in the later DaimlerChrysler days, by fighting hard for their proposals.

We have to remember that although DaimlerChrysler came together in 1998, the effects of the merger didn't start showing up in Chrysler vehicle interiors until 2003ish. The 2009 Ram, was the first vehicle to somewhat escape that in the 2000s and a roster of facelifts in the early 2010s.

Driving a Ford Raptor you are reminded how far pickup trucks have come as well. Ford built a sports car that looks a hell of a lot like an F150.

Needs air suspension and higher-quality interior finish. Their interior should be BETTER than the RAM.

Love the Raptor though.

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Fan boy alert

Indeed! For all the complainers, Ram still doesn't offer something like it. We will be competing with the next generation P702, not current P552.

The interior on the aluminum Raptor is much better than the older first generations I have.

In fact, I don't even care when my partner or any of our friends light up cigars inside of both my old 2010 (SCab) and 2014 SCW SVT Raptors, because the interiors by comparison are agricultural compared to my 2019 LOL!

The DT interior is nice, but very overhyped. Let's wait to see the Rebel TRX and how it compares. These are damn trucks in the first place, not Bentleys.

All the complaints about Raptor (P552) interior are so over the top, as Ram still has plastics in similar places.

I was trying to reply to both comments in one, but to the OP, I agree. The first truck was more of creating muscle pickup out of a detuned S197 GT500 and FX4 Super Crew.

Current truck is more of a lifted sports car in the dirt. I've jumped mine in both Texas and in Michigan, but very much baby it during the week, compared to my older first gens.

Especially the 2010 SuperCab in Tuxedo, which has survived 190,000 miles of on/offroading abuse and still holds up, after 10 years in service. When I lived abroad as a JLR engineer, I left it back in the hands of a friend down in Texas (works at a Ford dealer, original owner) and it's still running well.

You just gotta know what you're doing on these courses and not act like your driving a 6-figure fully built prerunner.

Up here in Canada, in the top 10 ten of all vehicles sold in a year, F150 is usually first, Dodge Ram 2nd, and both GM products are in the mix as well along with compact cars. Despite the urban growth along the border, there is still a lot of buyers who live a country life.

Bigger, carries a ton of stuff, and will absolutely crush those stupid little craptastic plastic-mobiles bleeding heart liberal environmentalists drive - what's not to like?

If it makes me a redneck... so be it. I have really enjoyed our 2016 tundra.

LOL @ Tundra

it replaced a 2014 f-150 that spent 5 months out of 9 months of ownership in the shop. vacuum issues with the 4wd system. I liked it but... I needed something I could rely on. Lost some capability and features for something that hasn't given me a minutes trouble. I prefer US brands but... Ford let me down after 20+yrs of being a loyal customer.

Some people are getting sick of crossovers and are going into pickups for that reason or Wranglers/4Runners.

If you have to go bigger, why go soft? Get a burly truck with 4x4 or a modern day 4x2 Caprice/Imperial/Crown Victoria on stilts with a bed.

I'm sick of them all, I'd like a Cutlass Supreme, Grand Prix or an Eldorado (El Miraj). Just me and the wife and a 2 door PLC with a usable 2 person back seat and trunk... absolutely no one makes one...

Personal coupes or 2-door sedans were something special. That Elmiraj concept was a wasted effort. As long as GM can't figure out a business case for such a vehicle, Cadillac is useless to me.

Even MB is discontinuing the S-Coupe and the BMW 8-Series, is really a 6-Series with a different name (100% fact, they renamed it). The real 8 died in 1999.

That being said, I am still trying to understand WHY? I have my theories, but it's very much a big deal to me, how a nerdy, African immigrant doctor went from a 2008 GL550 to a 2015 F-150 Platinum. Husband of my mother's friend.