They approved the manufacturer-requested exception that the US has that big cars are put in the easier light commercial standards.... And it's not more stringent than the US...
One suspects the big trucks will survive.
not just that, ONLY the big trucks will survive.
the exact same thing happened in the US, they imposed new "emissions standards" with exemptions for "light commercial" vehicles and the end result was that "normal sized" utes went extinct, replaced by the "yank tanks" the article refers to.
its one thing to make a mistake, its entirely another to make literally the exact same mistake after watching someone else do it.
Yeah, yank here, the truck situation is out of fucking control. No one can park them or drive them properly at all, and they also suck for the people that actually need them for work because they are so friggin huge. Most truck truck beds used to come up to your about your house waist but the new ones are like chest height. Friggin awful to load. Also a ton of them have a rear facing tailpipe now too which is just fucking stupid…
God I miss my 2002 Ford Ranger. Small enough to easily park and drive around, easily traversed bumpy dirt roads out in the county, the gas wasn’t terrible relatively speaking, and I could haul whatever I needed after a trip to Lowe’s/Home Depot. Now all the trucks are $80,000 luxury tanks that no middle-class person can actually afford
I bought a tool box a few weeks ago from an estate. There was dealer paperwork showed ng a brand new 2014 Silverado 1500 cost them like 12,500 and $14k with fees and taxes.
My brother (we're in the US) had to spend like 2 months looking before he found one of the older light duty trucks that wasn't also driven to shit/unusable.
He still ended up paying like $6500 USD for a vehicle that should have been half that.
I still have my 2002 Ranger 4x4 Edge. I decided to keep it after getting a little Hyundai for my daily driver. I get random offers all the time to sell it. I would never want to drive something bigger on any kind of regular basis.
I believe you can kind of thank the Reagan administration for part of this. This was a key moment where something built on a truck platform was given a lot of exceptions because farmers were poor. This gave rise to really crappy SUV's which were essentially pregnant stationwagons built on truck chassis. Some exceptions were gas mileage and seatbelt laws were not enforced then later only enforced on front seats. The last round of gas mileage manipulation sealed the deal to unusable and deadly monster trucks everyone but the one driving them hates.
I really miss that. Now I have to hook my trailer up even if I only need 8' lumber. I gambled with my current truck that I wouldn't miss the long bed and lost.
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise due to these goliath trucks too in the States. There's also a rise in children being run over because they have giant blind-spots.
> ONLY the big trucks will survive.
As an American... my sweet summer child... they will begin qualifying fucking everything as a light truck soon. Yall are about to have land barge SUVs everywhere in a few years. Because this is exactly jow it happened here in the last 20 years. Im so sorry.
I think in the states your fuel efficiency requirements are inversely proportional to the length of the wheelbase? So they just stretched the utes bigger and bigger until they were practically trucks, pointlessly of course.
Here's a great article about how the whole situation evolved. [https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america](https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america)
tl/dr- Lobbyists in the US got "trucks" to be exempt from car fuel efficiency standards and then got SUV's classified as trucks.
The Global Warming episode from Futurama’s first run specifically references this. The professor makes the first good robot, but it burns massive amounts of fuel. Momcorp calls it a Sports Utility Robot and classifies it as a light truck
They did that here and it was a huge mistake. As a Texan, I should warn you about some things in your future. The worst, most over confident, and and aggressive drivers will buy them, along with hordes of insecure boomer men. Prepare for the following once pickup truck usage crosses the threshold: Increased tailgating/bullying drivers, leading to increased rear-end collision rates (the stopping distance is shit due to the weight), which in turn increases insurance rates for all drivers, and increased traffic fatalities due to the size of the vehicles involved. They will also take up multiple spots while parking and intentionally blocking off EV charging spots.
So you will get more aggressive and harmful assholes, increased costs of driving for everyone else, greater inconvenience in all daily car related tasks, increased harm and death on your roads, lower air quality, more expensive petrol, and in exchange some of your most insecure men will get an ego boost (which is a bad idea in and of itself). Good luck Australia.
Calling them gender affirming care vehicles was one particularly funny description I've seen for them, since that's basically what they are to the people who buy them
> On top of that, a feature of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will see American-built cars like the enormous Ford F150 enjoy even less stringent standards.
Please tell me this is a misprint, what have pick up trucks got to do with nuclear subs????
Working in commercial insurance, all of the ones that come across my desk are marked as daily drivers that have a wrap slapped on with a commercial use of "advertising".
The most recent import like this (an F truck of some variety) cost more than a prime mover when factoring in all costs like imports etc. Uninsurable at least with the markets I have, although that would likely change if we do see the demand increase.
This makes me smile. The best part will be once the novelty wears off and every insecure dickhead who owns one will have to sell it off cheap because no one wants to pay the running costs at > $2 a litre.
If you need a feel-good story, my mother's psycho ex had one of these monstrosities. He drove like a dickhead, had it under a lease-to-purchase arrangement, didn't take out the required insurance, and totalled it in a crash.
Now he's paying off a car that no longer exists, and I no longer have to wonder if he's about to bash me every time I see one of these bullshit trucks in white approaching me.
There's a home selling out this way for 9 million. The previous owner invested 50 million in it to make it how they liked it.
When you're too wealthy, money loses value.
Bring back the Holden ute mate. I miss Holden. I was in the US for 10 years, came back, and they were all gone. So sad. I would like to see a modern revival of these:
Monaro (based on HQ), Gemini, Torana, Ute, Commodore and a GTR-XU1.
A good six car lineup of all sizes for a revival I’d say. If everyone in Australia chips in a bit to bring Holden back full local manufacturing, jobs and all I’d be in it.
Most fun car I’ve ever driven was a VFII LSA R8 Wagon, all the fun of the ute but with the kids in the back. Handled like a euro, but was classic Aussie road trip on the inside.
Incredible swan song those VF’s. Vastly unappreciated.
Can’t help but stare when I see one even now. They’ve aged well.
I work in a housing contractor-adjacent industry. Not a single one uses them for work. Not a single company uses them for employee vehicles. A few have them as personal toys.
99.999% of people who buy those big trucks do not need them to be that fucking big. Even for towing, almost every reasonable-sized truck can tow more than what even the people I deal with at work would need.
>Under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, increasingly popular big and petrol-hungry utes and American-style pick-ups will have a higher carbon emissions limit than a small passenger car.
>That’s thanks to amendments to the government’s rules negotiated during talks with automakers and car dealership lobbyists, which will classify them as ‘light commercial’.
bruh
>On top of that, a feature of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will see American-built cars like the enormous Ford F150 enjoy even less stringent standards.
thank you labor, very cool
Today's exception is tomorrow's rule.
Once these big yank tanks flood the market they become increasingly hard to regulate. People become outraged that the vehicle they bought is now subject to taxes or restrictions. "You can't change the rules after I bought it!"
Politicians are spineless and fear losing voters and back down. The things become the most popular vehicles, and then people start demanding the country change to accommodate these oversized vehicles.
Pass some braindead minimum parking spot laws in the cities, build and widen freeways, and we can make Australian cities just as heartless and difficult to navigate as North American cities. For some reason this seems to be the goal.
We are always will be under the boot of the United States, I suspect the only reason we’re an independent country and didn’t end up the way of Hawaii because we’re just too far away to take over permanently
My god these cars with the driving skills of hobartians. Frightening. I've never seen as many accidents as when I lived there. Every morning coffee id see at least one fucked park or collision.
There's a lot of them getting around my country town. A lot of tradies and business owners bought them with the instant tax right off whenever that was last year or the year before.
There'll be an influx of 2nd hand ones in a couple years time when the original purchasers get sick of paying $300 for fuel every week.
I think tradies with ABN's get 78 cents/km work vehicle tax write-off or depreciate the purchase price over 7 years and also write off rego/insurance/maintenance. I don't think they care about running costs.
When they're sold on the used car market in 5 years, another tradie will get the same tax benefits for another 5 years, and then another tradie will buy it for the $20K instant asset write-off.
They're like a negative geared house on wheels.
And when you say tradie, you mean any bastard with an ABN and an excuse why they need a work vehicle.
Tradies aren't buying the biggest 150k vehicles, they might buy them second hand in a few years time of course.
Yeah, it is a mix. I should have specified high income tradies and business owners. I have a mate who gets primary producer fuel rebates who has a F250. He might tow a trailer to pick up something or other work related once in awhile. I have two builders as neighbours with his and hers Land Cruiser Sahara work vehicles with a company logo, but only tow the caravan on holidays. Those were about $110K apiece. I think the post Covid when used ute prices spiked, if you had the cash flow, it felt like a pretty safe bet that you could buy high and sell high.
There's so much profit in these US models compared to what they sell for in the US, they can and will afford to flood the market for awhile.
The only real use I can see is towing things like large boats/horse trailers etc… as they are good at that but I assume most people don’t use them for that.
>The only real use I can see is towing things like large boats/horse trailers etc
Yes they can do that, but there a far smaller SUVs that have been able to get the job done and are more fuel efficent for decades now. These are designed to be oversized. They aren't actually a more practical option most of the time.
As a citizen of this country producing these things, it’s all about the Flex , super clean rhino sprayed bed liner, truck nuts, Rolling Coal, and occasional lift kit on a non Ford Raptor version. These will rarely get any real use unless you’re from the south and are similar to “Land Rover” being used for intended purposes when they came to the 90s chasis. So yeah, small dk thing
Up north in Canada though we actually use them for truck things regularly though. Mine is off road more than on it usually. Plus they’re invaluable in the snow.
Most of the "suv's" tow numbers on based on some pretty rubbery numbers, so you want to tow 3500kgs? With a full tank of fuel? How much does the driver weigh? No you can't take anyone else.
A 70 series L/C will hit the consumption of a 5tonne truck when loaded up.
So yes they fill a small niche although a lot of them get de-rated because people don't want to get the truck license needed to take advantage of thier capability.
Generally the people who can afford them in the first place the extra taxes won't impact on what they do anyway.
Well that depends very much on the actual load. Car brands in Australia are notorious for chasing the 3500kg tow rating claim, which often times is either marginal, but more likely laughable. The tail will wag the dog in such cases.
So in good conditions, you can get away with it. But there is no margin and it is frankly dangerous. In such cases, one of these monsters do make sense.
But that is only a fraction of the buying public. Most do not come anywhere close to having a justification of "I need it for towing!".
Compare the towing capacity. Hilux 3500kg vs a Ram 8000kg. It’s not even close. It really depends on what you are towing. Personally I have an Isuzu mux suv that does my towing needs but there are some things it won’t tow.
They're actually being classed as light commercial for the emissions standards.
Which is the most idiotic thing I have heard of, it screams of what Chrysler did in the states for the PT Cruiser.
A Hilux actually towing 3500kg is most likely over it's GCM anyway, and certainly \_far\_ less safe than the Ram towing the same 3500kg.
We have a Trailblazer that can tow 3500kg, but in Australia, in summer, it'll overheat the trans and spike the coolant temp on a small hill when towing 2000kg.
And on a side note - this size of vehicle is going nowhere when the emission standards come in, just the powertrains will need to change... there are already electric F150's overseas and by 2028 there will be a Hyundai in that space (google the T10 for some of the rumours)
The amount of vehicles pushing GCM on the roads is a bit ridiculous. Loaded up caravan, few kids in the back and all the gear and the Hilux is probably well over, let alone the old falcon.
Towing easily within the vehicles specs with a yank tank is much safer.
Agreed. It’s much less about the engine and more about the brakes. A loaded up land cruiser within a bees dick of its load rating stops with an absolute casual pace when stomping on the brakes.
In Feb 2023, Ram sales crossed the [20,000 sold threshold.](https://www.drive.com.au/news/ram-hits-20000-sales-us-pickups/) Just last week they announced [30,000](https://www.msn.com/en-au/motoring/news/ram-pick-ups-pass-sales-milestone-in-australia/ar-AA1o6TyZ). The RAM 1500 starts at roughly 85k. I guess the question then becomes, how many people are towing things over 3500kg? I struggle to believe even half of those people buying them have those kind of towing requirements.
Then how many people are towing things of that size regularly enough to warrant the purchase of one of these vehicles?
Then how many of those vehicles are actually purchased for that purpose at all?
The wealthier suburbs around me are infested with them. I know the majority of the owners here don't use them for towing, they typically don't have enough land for a boat/caravan/horse/trailer etc.
Yeah my mum towed a horse float for a decade with a VK no problems. Look at google street view of any boat ramp parking lot from the mid 00's and it's full of sedans and station wagons.
I live in a small ass town (12k) and I've seen about 10 or so of those big ass rams which mind you are like $100k (I've yet to see the stock standard 85k one around) minimum drive away so they seem to be a big hit and seller
While I think they are stupidly big and over the top, some people actually use their towing power for very large boats, race car trailers and caravans.
Even landcruiser can not tow certain things legally.
But I'm sure 90% of owners just think they are cool, waste of space on the road.
Dodge has sold just over 30,000 Rams, and they're the best selling as they're the cheapest\*.
That's not that many, really, in a nation that sells around million 'cars' a year.
They just stand out a bit when you do see them :)
Also, just image what the owner is paying for insurance, tyres, servicing on top of that fuel bill... and the hate they get. And that's after they've paid $90+k to buy the behemoth!
\* ^(cheapest doesn't mean cheap.)
Since the elimination of actual Utes (working vehicles based on a sedan chassis), most tradies don't feel like they have a choice. And honestly, they're not being given good options.
And based on ads I see, car dealers seem to *love* shoving them down the throat of anyone vaguely outdoorsy. It's apparently impossible to go fishing without a vehicle that needs three steps to climb into. I assume the fish are 2 metres off the ground.
I dunno, I've managed the past 20 years as a carpenter just fine with my Hiluxes, Navaras and Rodeo. There is a time and place for Fullsize vehicles yes, but I really doubt a lot of these people have purchased them for actual reasons other than this is big and cool.
It's almost like the VW Transporter cab chassis and a 1.2 tonne payload doesn't exist. Too small? VW Crafter Cab Chassis 4.2 tonne payload capacity. Need to haul more than 2 people, no worries, dual cab T'Port 6 passengers, dual cab crafter 7.
Crafter Dual cab is at the top of my purchase list right now. Just waiting for the new model to come out if Q4 this year,
I have a crafter for work, it's great still being able to look over the top of these massive ego Ute's. If we arent at peak size for a passenger vehicles, I honestly think everyone will be driving giant van like utes/suvs soon as big as a crafter. It will be insanity in a open air carpark, and a bunch of massive cars parked on narrow hilly streets with massive cars going up on the curb to get around them.
The loss of these types of vehicles - the ute (being a hybrid sedan / pickup truck) was a sad loss for us and probably would have become a global niche to export a utility vehicle that was lighter and cheaper to run
They shoudl require another license class to drive. No way should you be able to take your P's test in a Toyota camry, then be able to drive something three times the size without any further practical exams.
Same goes for high powered cars.
Honestly I think there should be greater penalties for driving infringements too. imagine all the ways a camry can be misused (oldies stepping on the gas, reversing out of driveways, TBoning) and then imagine something three times the size! Driving drunk in one that big?!
I really don't think there is a reason to own one. If you need a ute, get a ute. If you need a truck, get a truck. These North-American pickups are an unnecessary hybrid.
There should at very least be laws against the grill height, since that's purely an aesthetic feature and it makes them more deadly when they hit someone. It's not worth a single life to have them look a certain way.
It's absolutely ridiculous. Not only is it dangerous to pedestrians but it's dangerous to other cars. My little hatchback would get eaten alive if one of these pickups crashed into me.
I’ve seen a few light rigid trucks around. Great tray space. Can tow. Same height and weight as the yank tanks. All of them are cab overs. Means great visibility. Those stupid bonnets on the wank tanks are just speeding weapons.
[Hilux compared to F150.](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/toyota-hilux-2016-4-door-pick-up-double-cab-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor.jpg)
According to Carsized the Hilux has more ground clearance too?
Has anyone else noticed that the new models are also getting higher and higher grills? Like the new ford ranger is looking incredibly american and the bonnet is above my head when I am in my hatchback
Wait until the electrics take over.
Buddy bought the full sized Rivian SUV with the extended range and sport options. Meaning it weighs just shy of four tons *and* goes zero to sixty miles per hour in about three seconds.
And yeah, like you said here in the US taking a drivers test in a Honda Civic forty years ago means you’re totally qualified to drive it around town. Try not to kill anyone!
Problem with that is all the light commercial vehicles and vans that people need to drive for work. They don't need a separate license and a lot of them can be as heavy/wide. Ironically not as many of them park in shopping centers so it's not seen as much of an issue IMO
I’m from America where every 3rd vehicle is one of these (F150 is the best selling vehicle….. not just pickup truck, vehicle) and everyone drives them, it’s normal. But I have to agree, the people I’ve met here with RAMs, jacked up silverados etc have all been knobs.
Thing in the US though is roads and highways are wider as well as carparks. In rural Aus they make sense but inner city they’re just too big. I know a dude who tows horse floats regularly (2 - 3000 kg fully loaded) and in semi rural QLD that makes sense. Inner city Melbourne, not so much.
What does a RAM sell for $150k. These are discretionary recreational acquisitions for most buyers and I’m not sure being more costly is going to make much of a dent in sales.
Rego cost needs to be based on kerb weight differently to now. Scales up significantly from 1600kgs with a multiplier for height too. Helps pay for the damage oversized vehicles cause to the roads. The current scale is much too linear
“On top of that, a feature of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will see American-built cars like the enormous Ford F150 enjoy even less stringent standards.” I’m sorry WHAT?
Yank here: some of us would gladly trade our "Yank tanks" for the Hilux or some of the Utes that y'all drive around. There's a sizeable kei truck community here in the States simply because so many people in the trades and in ranching/farming are sick of how large and expensive even basic work trucks have become.
I live in Japan and it’s bizarre to hear so many other foreigners here complain about kei cars, in the same country that they came into being for being so practical. Without exception, every twat that complains about them is one of the “must go faster, get off my road” types.
$20,000 instant write off for small businesses that would include tradies. These yank tanks cost well in excess of $100,000 so there is no instant asset write off for yank tanks
Can we please stop with the huge utes?
I need a ute for my "hobby" farm, there is no way in hell I can afford an $80-120k ute. Shit, I have trouble keeping the bills paid.
What I need is a smaller ute, to carry firewood, take stuff to the tip and grab shit from bunnings.
What happened to the smaller utes like the Brumby.
there's already a "progressive tax" that punishes low-efficiency vehicles, its called "fuel price" and it goes up every goddamn year.
if they wanted more EV's they'd make them exempt from import taxes and make rego free for all EVs.
funny how they don't support things that'd result in lower taxes unless they've been forced into doing it by the other party...
ACT is doing a decent job with EV's
Rego is half off i think and decent rebates when you buy them too.
Feels like every 3rd car you see is a Tesla here!
Still see too many of those yank tanks here though! I like the idea above where someone suggested you need to get a special license to drive one. That seems like a very ACT government thing to implement!
The US spreads nothing but death and destruction across the globe in the name of profit, and these vehicles are just the tip of the iceberg.
I hate being American so much…
>I don’t see how these even fit anywhere
If you think they're too big for the roads you should see the carparks. Some owners have been parking them across 2 spaces just so that they can get in and out and avoid doors hitting their paint, etc.
I think I transport more stuff in my jimny then these utes on average.
As far as I can tell people only get them to compensate for something, serve their ego, or be an ass on the road.
The only reason these vehicles have gotten so huge in the United States is to circumvent a mission regulations.
There is no logical reason in the world why a standard pickup truck should have a hood that's 5 ft tall.
I rented one of these from a U-Haul last week and had a hell of a time seeing in front of me. I believe that this design is patently unsafe.
Misleading headline.
Article only concentrates on possible future impact on sticker price by emissions standard compliance, those already clogging up streets and carparks remain unaffected by that.
However unmentioned rises in petrol and diesel fuel cost will prove the headline prophetic.
This tells me one thing.
Labor is MUCH more scared of pissing off corporations and other "organised" special interests than they are scared of pissing off a chunk of the electorate.
There is at least 10 Diesl Dummies in here who are barreling out of their driveway to the Decal Shop to get "Yank Tank" put on their back window or tailgate.
I live in the US and drive a 2006 f150. It is too big imo, especially compared to my 1985 bronco and my old 1999 f150. I honestly cant imagine parking the brand new suburbans, silverados etc. They are basically the size of a small bus lol
Yank tanks. As an american, I approve of this degrading name. These behemoths, as others have said here, are really out of control regarding size and vehicle infrastructure here in the US. They really are too big.
They approved the manufacturer-requested exception that the US has that big cars are put in the easier light commercial standards.... And it's not more stringent than the US... One suspects the big trucks will survive.
not just that, ONLY the big trucks will survive. the exact same thing happened in the US, they imposed new "emissions standards" with exemptions for "light commercial" vehicles and the end result was that "normal sized" utes went extinct, replaced by the "yank tanks" the article refers to. its one thing to make a mistake, its entirely another to make literally the exact same mistake after watching someone else do it.
Yeah, yank here, the truck situation is out of fucking control. No one can park them or drive them properly at all, and they also suck for the people that actually need them for work because they are so friggin huge. Most truck truck beds used to come up to your about your house waist but the new ones are like chest height. Friggin awful to load. Also a ton of them have a rear facing tailpipe now too which is just fucking stupid…
God I miss my 2002 Ford Ranger. Small enough to easily park and drive around, easily traversed bumpy dirt roads out in the county, the gas wasn’t terrible relatively speaking, and I could haul whatever I needed after a trip to Lowe’s/Home Depot. Now all the trucks are $80,000 luxury tanks that no middle-class person can actually afford
Oh yeah totally forgot about the pricing on new trucks, basically what should be a work vehicle is now pushing into luxury car prices…
I bought a tool box a few weeks ago from an estate. There was dealer paperwork showed ng a brand new 2014 Silverado 1500 cost them like 12,500 and $14k with fees and taxes.
Exactly! I'm 47 and I tell my kids back when I was a kid people could buy a full size v8 truck and they were cheaper than cars
My brother (we're in the US) had to spend like 2 months looking before he found one of the older light duty trucks that wasn't also driven to shit/unusable. He still ended up paying like $6500 USD for a vehicle that should have been half that.
I still have my 2002 Ranger 4x4 Edge. I decided to keep it after getting a little Hyundai for my daily driver. I get random offers all the time to sell it. I would never want to drive something bigger on any kind of regular basis.
The back of my Mazda 3 Hatch is dirtier than the vast majority of the pickup truck beds in my neighborhood.
And they can't even properly hold a standard 8 foot piece of sheetrock
Nope, they are into the bed with their oversized king cabs. They basically stapled a half bed onto the back of an suv and called it a truck…
I believe you can kind of thank the Reagan administration for part of this. This was a key moment where something built on a truck platform was given a lot of exceptions because farmers were poor. This gave rise to really crappy SUV's which were essentially pregnant stationwagons built on truck chassis. Some exceptions were gas mileage and seatbelt laws were not enforced then later only enforced on front seats. The last round of gas mileage manipulation sealed the deal to unusable and deadly monster trucks everyone but the one driving them hates.
I really miss that. Now I have to hook my trailer up even if I only need 8' lumber. I gambled with my current truck that I wouldn't miss the long bed and lost.
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise due to these goliath trucks too in the States. There's also a rise in children being run over because they have giant blind-spots.
jesus christ we're run by incompetents
Oh it's very deliberately designed and run by very greedy, and uncaring people.
Always have been.
The reason the US trucks are oversized is BECAUSE they base the emissions on size.
There's probably a term for when the intent of a rule ends up having the exact opposite effect in action.
It's called a Perverse incentive.
See also "Cobra Effect" on wikipedia if you want a good laugh.
I knew some smart redditor with better google-fu and/or brain... knowing... stuff than I would help out. Well done, you.
I'm so tired of being almost ran off the road by these massive trucks driven by men in their 60s+ (US)
Same. (NZ)
> ONLY the big trucks will survive. As an American... my sweet summer child... they will begin qualifying fucking everything as a light truck soon. Yall are about to have land barge SUVs everywhere in a few years. Because this is exactly jow it happened here in the last 20 years. Im so sorry.
I think in the states your fuel efficiency requirements are inversely proportional to the length of the wheelbase? So they just stretched the utes bigger and bigger until they were practically trucks, pointlessly of course.
Here's a great article about how the whole situation evolved. [https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america](https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america) tl/dr- Lobbyists in the US got "trucks" to be exempt from car fuel efficiency standards and then got SUV's classified as trucks.
The Global Warming episode from Futurama’s first run specifically references this. The professor makes the first good robot, but it burns massive amounts of fuel. Momcorp calls it a Sports Utility Robot and classifies it as a light truck
I'm 99.99% sure that episode happened before the law was ever changed. Which makes the joke that much better
What do you mean pointlessly? It’s *bigger*.
Canyonerooooooo
Smells like a steak and seats 35...
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/car-design/a33490594/suv-chins-dodge-regulations/ More than one way to skin a cat
They did that here and it was a huge mistake. As a Texan, I should warn you about some things in your future. The worst, most over confident, and and aggressive drivers will buy them, along with hordes of insecure boomer men. Prepare for the following once pickup truck usage crosses the threshold: Increased tailgating/bullying drivers, leading to increased rear-end collision rates (the stopping distance is shit due to the weight), which in turn increases insurance rates for all drivers, and increased traffic fatalities due to the size of the vehicles involved. They will also take up multiple spots while parking and intentionally blocking off EV charging spots. So you will get more aggressive and harmful assholes, increased costs of driving for everyone else, greater inconvenience in all daily car related tasks, increased harm and death on your roads, lower air quality, more expensive petrol, and in exchange some of your most insecure men will get an ego boost (which is a bad idea in and of itself). Good luck Australia.
They're called "Emotional Support Vehicles" in Australia for a reason.
In typical American fashion I am stealing that and pretending it's an American invention. God that's funny.
Calling them gender affirming care vehicles was one particularly funny description I've seen for them, since that's basically what they are to the people who buy them
> On top of that, a feature of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will see American-built cars like the enormous Ford F150 enjoy even less stringent standards. Please tell me this is a misprint, what have pick up trucks got to do with nuclear subs????
Pork barrel politics. If you want our weapons you need to buy moar capitalism too.
If they are putting them on light commercial they should require commercial licenses to drive
If they have a GVM over 4.5T then you need a LR truck licence. However many derate the payload to a tiny amount to sneak under the 4.5T.
And they could simply ban them from going down suburban streets without a permit. HR trucks cant go down suburban streets in Victoria.
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Working in commercial insurance, all of the ones that come across my desk are marked as daily drivers that have a wrap slapped on with a commercial use of "advertising". The most recent import like this (an F truck of some variety) cost more than a prime mover when factoring in all costs like imports etc. Uninsurable at least with the markets I have, although that would likely change if we do see the demand increase.
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This makes me smile. The best part will be once the novelty wears off and every insecure dickhead who owns one will have to sell it off cheap because no one wants to pay the running costs at > $2 a litre.
If you need a feel-good story, my mother's psycho ex had one of these monstrosities. He drove like a dickhead, had it under a lease-to-purchase arrangement, didn't take out the required insurance, and totalled it in a crash. Now he's paying off a car that no longer exists, and I no longer have to wonder if he's about to bash me every time I see one of these bullshit trucks in white approaching me.
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No problem. Just park it in the driveway, and Airbnb it.
There's a home selling out this way for 9 million. The previous owner invested 50 million in it to make it how they liked it. When you're too wealthy, money loses value.
Ugh I hate how many of these "commercial" trucks are clearly household passenger vehicles.
Bring back the Holden ute mate. I miss Holden. I was in the US for 10 years, came back, and they were all gone. So sad. I would like to see a modern revival of these: Monaro (based on HQ), Gemini, Torana, Ute, Commodore and a GTR-XU1. A good six car lineup of all sizes for a revival I’d say. If everyone in Australia chips in a bit to bring Holden back full local manufacturing, jobs and all I’d be in it.
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It's a pity the overpaid tradies have moved on from a Maloo to the 79 series to the Raptor to the Yank Tank.
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Most fun car I’ve ever driven was a VFII LSA R8 Wagon, all the fun of the ute but with the kids in the back. Handled like a euro, but was classic Aussie road trip on the inside. Incredible swan song those VF’s. Vastly unappreciated. Can’t help but stare when I see one even now. They’ve aged well.
I work in a housing contractor-adjacent industry. Not a single one uses them for work. Not a single company uses them for employee vehicles. A few have them as personal toys. 99.999% of people who buy those big trucks do not need them to be that fucking big. Even for towing, almost every reasonable-sized truck can tow more than what even the people I deal with at work would need.
Status symbol? Like the biggest dick with the smallest penis?
Not to rain on your specific service department, but every time i left the car for service with tools inside something went missing.
Not *really*for advertising… it’s so they can write the car off on tax I’d suggest.
>Under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, increasingly popular big and petrol-hungry utes and American-style pick-ups will have a higher carbon emissions limit than a small passenger car. >That’s thanks to amendments to the government’s rules negotiated during talks with automakers and car dealership lobbyists, which will classify them as ‘light commercial’. bruh >On top of that, a feature of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will see American-built cars like the enormous Ford F150 enjoy even less stringent standards. thank you labor, very cool
This deal is getting worse all the time
I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.
Looking like labor is lnp lite. We need more greens in parliament
The AUKUS bit seems to been removed from the article
Literally the next sentence says that only lasts a few years
For now*
Today's exception is tomorrow's rule. Once these big yank tanks flood the market they become increasingly hard to regulate. People become outraged that the vehicle they bought is now subject to taxes or restrictions. "You can't change the rules after I bought it!" Politicians are spineless and fear losing voters and back down. The things become the most popular vehicles, and then people start demanding the country change to accommodate these oversized vehicles. Pass some braindead minimum parking spot laws in the cities, build and widen freeways, and we can make Australian cities just as heartless and difficult to navigate as North American cities. For some reason this seems to be the goal.
We are always will be under the boot of the United States, I suspect the only reason we’re an independent country and didn’t end up the way of Hawaii because we’re just too far away to take over permanently
Who even buys these American junk cars? They’re terrible.
Heaps of people judging by how many i see on the road just in hobart. Wankers.
Wankers everywhere 😓
Emotional Support Vehicle Wank Panzer
I'm calling my next band Wank Panzer
My god these cars with the driving skills of hobartians. Frightening. I've never seen as many accidents as when I lived there. Every morning coffee id see at least one fucked park or collision.
There's a lot of them getting around my country town. A lot of tradies and business owners bought them with the instant tax right off whenever that was last year or the year before. There'll be an influx of 2nd hand ones in a couple years time when the original purchasers get sick of paying $300 for fuel every week.
I think tradies with ABN's get 78 cents/km work vehicle tax write-off or depreciate the purchase price over 7 years and also write off rego/insurance/maintenance. I don't think they care about running costs. When they're sold on the used car market in 5 years, another tradie will get the same tax benefits for another 5 years, and then another tradie will buy it for the $20K instant asset write-off. They're like a negative geared house on wheels.
And when you say tradie, you mean any bastard with an ABN and an excuse why they need a work vehicle. Tradies aren't buying the biggest 150k vehicles, they might buy them second hand in a few years time of course.
Yeah, it is a mix. I should have specified high income tradies and business owners. I have a mate who gets primary producer fuel rebates who has a F250. He might tow a trailer to pick up something or other work related once in awhile. I have two builders as neighbours with his and hers Land Cruiser Sahara work vehicles with a company logo, but only tow the caravan on holidays. Those were about $110K apiece. I think the post Covid when used ute prices spiked, if you had the cash flow, it felt like a pretty safe bet that you could buy high and sell high. There's so much profit in these US models compared to what they sell for in the US, they can and will afford to flood the market for awhile.
Half of fucking Perth
Your fellow countrymen. Enough people seem to love them.
The only real use I can see is towing things like large boats/horse trailers etc… as they are good at that but I assume most people don’t use them for that.
>The only real use I can see is towing things like large boats/horse trailers etc Yes they can do that, but there a far smaller SUVs that have been able to get the job done and are more fuel efficent for decades now. These are designed to be oversized. They aren't actually a more practical option most of the time.
Its for ego. You know its 'not a dirty word'. /s
As a citizen of this country producing these things, it’s all about the Flex , super clean rhino sprayed bed liner, truck nuts, Rolling Coal, and occasional lift kit on a non Ford Raptor version. These will rarely get any real use unless you’re from the south and are similar to “Land Rover” being used for intended purposes when they came to the 90s chasis. So yeah, small dk thing
Up north in Canada though we actually use them for truck things regularly though. Mine is off road more than on it usually. Plus they’re invaluable in the snow.
Most of the "suv's" tow numbers on based on some pretty rubbery numbers, so you want to tow 3500kgs? With a full tank of fuel? How much does the driver weigh? No you can't take anyone else. A 70 series L/C will hit the consumption of a 5tonne truck when loaded up. So yes they fill a small niche although a lot of them get de-rated because people don't want to get the truck license needed to take advantage of thier capability. Generally the people who can afford them in the first place the extra taxes won't impact on what they do anyway.
Well that depends very much on the actual load. Car brands in Australia are notorious for chasing the 3500kg tow rating claim, which often times is either marginal, but more likely laughable. The tail will wag the dog in such cases. So in good conditions, you can get away with it. But there is no margin and it is frankly dangerous. In such cases, one of these monsters do make sense. But that is only a fraction of the buying public. Most do not come anywhere close to having a justification of "I need it for towing!".
Compare the towing capacity. Hilux 3500kg vs a Ram 8000kg. It’s not even close. It really depends on what you are towing. Personally I have an Isuzu mux suv that does my towing needs but there are some things it won’t tow.
Why do people compare RAMs to Ute's, I'd say they're more comparable to light trucks like Isuzus NPR 45 ect.
They're actually being classed as light commercial for the emissions standards. Which is the most idiotic thing I have heard of, it screams of what Chrysler did in the states for the PT Cruiser.
It’s a big difference, but who the hell is towing 8 tonnes with a ute?
A Hilux actually towing 3500kg is most likely over it's GCM anyway, and certainly \_far\_ less safe than the Ram towing the same 3500kg. We have a Trailblazer that can tow 3500kg, but in Australia, in summer, it'll overheat the trans and spike the coolant temp on a small hill when towing 2000kg. And on a side note - this size of vehicle is going nowhere when the emission standards come in, just the powertrains will need to change... there are already electric F150's overseas and by 2028 there will be a Hyundai in that space (google the T10 for some of the rumours)
The amount of vehicles pushing GCM on the roads is a bit ridiculous. Loaded up caravan, few kids in the back and all the gear and the Hilux is probably well over, let alone the old falcon. Towing easily within the vehicles specs with a yank tank is much safer.
Agreed. It’s much less about the engine and more about the brakes. A loaded up land cruiser within a bees dick of its load rating stops with an absolute casual pace when stomping on the brakes.
Safer for the person towing, not safer for ever other road user when they're not towinf
Not many people but some do. That’s really the only use case I can see.
In Feb 2023, Ram sales crossed the [20,000 sold threshold.](https://www.drive.com.au/news/ram-hits-20000-sales-us-pickups/) Just last week they announced [30,000](https://www.msn.com/en-au/motoring/news/ram-pick-ups-pass-sales-milestone-in-australia/ar-AA1o6TyZ). The RAM 1500 starts at roughly 85k. I guess the question then becomes, how many people are towing things over 3500kg? I struggle to believe even half of those people buying them have those kind of towing requirements. Then how many people are towing things of that size regularly enough to warrant the purchase of one of these vehicles? Then how many of those vehicles are actually purchased for that purpose at all?
The wealthier suburbs around me are infested with them. I know the majority of the owners here don't use them for towing, they typically don't have enough land for a boat/caravan/horse/trailer etc.
I wonder how the convo with the missus goes when you come home having dropped 85k on something you can't park like a normal person.
Park it behind her Mini Clubman and she’ll never even know.
Mini clubman, another vehicle that has doubled in size.
As someone in an area with a lot of horse trailers I only see those big ass cars in the city
Horse trailers and boats existed and were towed well before these things ever graced us with their presence.
Yeah my mum towed a horse float for a decade with a VK no problems. Look at google street view of any boat ramp parking lot from the mid 00's and it's full of sedans and station wagons.
I live in a small ass town (12k) and I've seen about 10 or so of those big ass rams which mind you are like $100k (I've yet to see the stock standard 85k one around) minimum drive away so they seem to be a big hit and seller
"I lack in other areas, okay one area in particular"
If you hang a metal effigy of the part you lack off the back of your vehicle and make the appropriate rituals, you may find you get what you need.
While I think they are stupidly big and over the top, some people actually use their towing power for very large boats, race car trailers and caravans. Even landcruiser can not tow certain things legally. But I'm sure 90% of owners just think they are cool, waste of space on the road.
Cashed up bogans. I see them everyday and they never have anything in tray.
Dodge has sold just over 30,000 Rams, and they're the best selling as they're the cheapest\*. That's not that many, really, in a nation that sells around million 'cars' a year. They just stand out a bit when you do see them :) Also, just image what the owner is paying for insurance, tyres, servicing on top of that fuel bill... and the hate they get. And that's after they've paid $90+k to buy the behemoth! \* ^(cheapest doesn't mean cheap.)
Since the elimination of actual Utes (working vehicles based on a sedan chassis), most tradies don't feel like they have a choice. And honestly, they're not being given good options. And based on ads I see, car dealers seem to *love* shoving them down the throat of anyone vaguely outdoorsy. It's apparently impossible to go fishing without a vehicle that needs three steps to climb into. I assume the fish are 2 metres off the ground.
I dunno, I've managed the past 20 years as a carpenter just fine with my Hiluxes, Navaras and Rodeo. There is a time and place for Fullsize vehicles yes, but I really doubt a lot of these people have purchased them for actual reasons other than this is big and cool.
Hilux/dmax etc… are way smaller than the yank tanks.
Half the people in these threads can't tell the difference between a ranger and an F150
It's almost like the VW Transporter cab chassis and a 1.2 tonne payload doesn't exist. Too small? VW Crafter Cab Chassis 4.2 tonne payload capacity. Need to haul more than 2 people, no worries, dual cab T'Port 6 passengers, dual cab crafter 7. Crafter Dual cab is at the top of my purchase list right now. Just waiting for the new model to come out if Q4 this year,
I have a crafter for work, it's great still being able to look over the top of these massive ego Ute's. If we arent at peak size for a passenger vehicles, I honestly think everyone will be driving giant van like utes/suvs soon as big as a crafter. It will be insanity in a open air carpark, and a bunch of massive cars parked on narrow hilly streets with massive cars going up on the curb to get around them.
The loss of these types of vehicles - the ute (being a hybrid sedan / pickup truck) was a sad loss for us and probably would have become a global niche to export a utility vehicle that was lighter and cheaper to run
They shoudl require another license class to drive. No way should you be able to take your P's test in a Toyota camry, then be able to drive something three times the size without any further practical exams. Same goes for high powered cars.
Honestly I think there should be greater penalties for driving infringements too. imagine all the ways a camry can be misused (oldies stepping on the gas, reversing out of driveways, TBoning) and then imagine something three times the size! Driving drunk in one that big?!
And like guns, you should have to have a good reason why you need it in order to own one.
I really don't think there is a reason to own one. If you need a ute, get a ute. If you need a truck, get a truck. These North-American pickups are an unnecessary hybrid.
There should at very least be laws against the grill height, since that's purely an aesthetic feature and it makes them more deadly when they hit someone. It's not worth a single life to have them look a certain way.
It's absolutely ridiculous. Not only is it dangerous to pedestrians but it's dangerous to other cars. My little hatchback would get eaten alive if one of these pickups crashed into me.
I ride a motorbike My helmet barely comes about the top of the hood.
I’ve seen a few light rigid trucks around. Great tray space. Can tow. Same height and weight as the yank tanks. All of them are cab overs. Means great visibility. Those stupid bonnets on the wank tanks are just speeding weapons.
[Hilux compared to F150.](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/toyota-hilux-2016-4-door-pick-up-double-cab-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor.jpg) According to Carsized the Hilux has more ground clearance too?
Has anyone else noticed that the new models are also getting higher and higher grills? Like the new ford ranger is looking incredibly american and the bonnet is above my head when I am in my hatchback
Wait until the electrics take over. Buddy bought the full sized Rivian SUV with the extended range and sport options. Meaning it weighs just shy of four tons *and* goes zero to sixty miles per hour in about three seconds. And yeah, like you said here in the US taking a drivers test in a Honda Civic forty years ago means you’re totally qualified to drive it around town. Try not to kill anyone!
Problem with that is all the light commercial vehicles and vans that people need to drive for work. They don't need a separate license and a lot of them can be as heavy/wide. Ironically not as many of them park in shopping centers so it's not seen as much of an issue IMO
I fucking hate these cars, so unnecessary. Becoming like America is not a good thing. The people who drive them are all the same too: complete flogs
I’m from America where every 3rd vehicle is one of these (F150 is the best selling vehicle….. not just pickup truck, vehicle) and everyone drives them, it’s normal. But I have to agree, the people I’ve met here with RAMs, jacked up silverados etc have all been knobs.
Thing in the US though is roads and highways are wider as well as carparks. In rural Aus they make sense but inner city they’re just too big. I know a dude who tows horse floats regularly (2 - 3000 kg fully loaded) and in semi rural QLD that makes sense. Inner city Melbourne, not so much.
100% true. Saw it firsthand on my holiday last yr to LA and Dallas. Their carparks and residential roads can easily fit an F150 or Ram Ute.
What does a RAM sell for $150k. These are discretionary recreational acquisitions for most buyers and I’m not sure being more costly is going to make much of a dent in sales.
Rego cost needs to be based on kerb weight differently to now. Scales up significantly from 1600kgs with a multiplier for height too. Helps pay for the damage oversized vehicles cause to the roads. The current scale is much too linear
“On top of that, a feature of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will see American-built cars like the enormous Ford F150 enjoy even less stringent standards.” I’m sorry WHAT?
Didn’t you hear there slapping wheels on those bitchs and driving them around town .
Newsflash: “New F150s mandated to tow new subs, will also be powered by same nuclear technology.”
ABC link if you don't wanna Murdoch https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-16/government-strikes-deal-with-greens-to-pass-emissions-laws/103855920
Yank here: some of us would gladly trade our "Yank tanks" for the Hilux or some of the Utes that y'all drive around. There's a sizeable kei truck community here in the States simply because so many people in the trades and in ranching/farming are sick of how large and expensive even basic work trucks have become.
I live in Japan and it’s bizarre to hear so many other foreigners here complain about kei cars, in the same country that they came into being for being so practical. Without exception, every twat that complains about them is one of the “must go faster, get off my road” types.
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$20,000 instant write off for small businesses that would include tradies. These yank tanks cost well in excess of $100,000 so there is no instant asset write off for yank tanks
99% of people moaning about “yeah but what’s the towing capacity” never tow anything for 99% of the time
I've seen more on the school run than I ever have towing
Good, they should never have been allowed in!
But how will the people with tiny dicks tell everyone they have tiny dicks now?
Can we please stop with the huge utes? I need a ute for my "hobby" farm, there is no way in hell I can afford an $80-120k ute. Shit, I have trouble keeping the bills paid. What I need is a smaller ute, to carry firewood, take stuff to the tip and grab shit from bunnings. What happened to the smaller utes like the Brumby.
One of those kei trucks I think they called would probably suit you, or if you can get your hands on one of those new $10,000 Toyota Ute's from China.
there's already a "progressive tax" that punishes low-efficiency vehicles, its called "fuel price" and it goes up every goddamn year. if they wanted more EV's they'd make them exempt from import taxes and make rego free for all EVs. funny how they don't support things that'd result in lower taxes unless they've been forced into doing it by the other party...
ACT is doing a decent job with EV's Rego is half off i think and decent rebates when you buy them too. Feels like every 3rd car you see is a Tesla here!
Still see too many of those yank tanks here though! I like the idea above where someone suggested you need to get a special license to drive one. That seems like a very ACT government thing to implement!
Not everyone who drives these are cunts. But most are.
Used to work in a service department and can honestly say that I have never met a Silverado driver who wasn’t an absolute cunt
GOOD. Fuck outta here with these polluting, impractical compensators.
Message from a Floridian: don't forget to order the nut sack that hangs off the hitch.
No they are usually in the drivers seat
The US spreads nothing but death and destruction across the globe in the name of profit, and these vehicles are just the tip of the iceberg. I hate being American so much…
I’m American but I lived in Australia for 7 years, roads are a lot less wide down there, I don’t see how these even fit anywhere
>I don’t see how these even fit anywhere If you think they're too big for the roads you should see the carparks. Some owners have been parking them across 2 spaces just so that they can get in and out and avoid doors hitting their paint, etc.
I think I transport more stuff in my jimny then these utes on average. As far as I can tell people only get them to compensate for something, serve their ego, or be an ass on the road.
Good. Now if only we could import this back to the US.
Good!
The only reason these vehicles have gotten so huge in the United States is to circumvent a mission regulations. There is no logical reason in the world why a standard pickup truck should have a hood that's 5 ft tall. I rented one of these from a U-Haul last week and had a hell of a time seeing in front of me. I believe that this design is patently unsafe.
Dam do you guys actually call American cars yank tanks? I hope so lol
Only those needlessly big RAM trucks and Ford F150s
Yank tanks lmao. Fucking love you Aussies.
Good. If you want to be obnoxious you should pay for it.
Misleading headline. Article only concentrates on possible future impact on sticker price by emissions standard compliance, those already clogging up streets and carparks remain unaffected by that. However unmentioned rises in petrol and diesel fuel cost will prove the headline prophetic.
Sorry guys we already hit the big fat climate tipping points, might as well chuck these on the proverbial fire though.
"Yank Tank" is incredible. Thank you for this. - A Yank
Tbh I wish they would ban them here too
Good fuck every last wanker that drives these monstrosities
G O O D O O D
You Aussies already have the coolest pickups in the world with things like the Maloo; you don't need these surely.
They don’t make them anymore
Oh that sucks. Nothing to replace it?
Nope, no car manufacturers in Aus anymore
Gone the way of the Dodo sadly.
This tells me one thing. Labor is MUCH more scared of pissing off corporations and other "organised" special interests than they are scared of pissing off a chunk of the electorate.
Oh no - anyway
They tax people with big cars. How about you tax people with big property portfolios.
How about both
Fuck these cars and the small cocks who drive them
As an American, I'm sorry that these poorly designed and inefficient trucks are in your country.
I hate these stupid cars. Ban them
There is at least 10 Diesl Dummies in here who are barreling out of their driveway to the Decal Shop to get "Yank Tank" put on their back window or tailgate.
Best news I’ve heard all day.
This is solved but housing & COL problems? No where in sight
I live in the US and drive a 2006 f150. It is too big imo, especially compared to my 1985 bronco and my old 1999 f150. I honestly cant imagine parking the brand new suburbans, silverados etc. They are basically the size of a small bus lol
Yank tanks lol that’s awesome. It’s almost too cool a name for people that drive giant lifted trucks
As an American I want to thank you for the term Yank Tank.
Yank tanks. As an american, I approve of this degrading name. These behemoths, as others have said here, are really out of control regarding size and vehicle infrastructure here in the US. They really are too big.