>You know who buys F150s? everyone

except those strange ones that buy Chevy or GMC.

Or the real outlier, those with Ram Pickups....

(I didn't realize this was a thing till my civil engineering company last century bought a GMC to replace the fords).

To this day I remember a Huge Ram diesel dually with a big dog in the bed towing in a single roll of landfill liner (23 ft long and About 2000 lbs of plastic) and thinking.. wow.

Wouldn’t call Ram an outlier. Sells about as well and Chevy and outsells GMC. GMC+Chevy about equal Ford, and Ram sells like 65-75% of what Ford does.

Toyota is the “not quite first tier, not Nissan or a baby truck.”

The recent resurgence in Ram is a bit mind-boggling to me, not because they are good or bad, but because the lack of historical brand power has always seemed so arbitrary to me, and it's resurgence even more-so.

Whereas Toyota approaching Tier-1 makes a bit more sense. If nothing else, based on the fact that they're now more ”American" built than the three "domestic" truck companies.

Toyota isn’t even attempting to compete. They are playing it safe in a “if people only buy Toyota’s we have a truck for them” space.

Ram has always been a popular truck. It held they have UConnect and one of the better infotainment ecosystems. A lot of people Still don’t think of trucks as luxury vehicles because the higher end brands don’t badge one, but the top fit and finish Trucks are trying to be something else.

Buying a Chevy truck makes sense if you are upgrading from a 90s Chevy truck because they lasted a long time and were easy to maintain and cheap to repair. Mine is still going strong at 322K miles. Of course it isn't until after someone upgrades and puts a few years on a new truck do they realize they aren't as cheap and easy to maintain as the 90s version.

> except those strange ones that buy Chevy or GMC.

I mean it philosophically. "Everyone," to a rough approximation, are customers interested in a pickup. Whether Ford, Chevy, Ram, Toyota, etc.

It’s signaling; in my mind it’s the same for many Tesla drivers. But I mean, same for me, I drive a Subaru Outback because while I do use it for outdoor exploring and want to signal that, its off road use is honestly limited to a dirt parking lot. It’s often about image.

(Edit) consumption waste of traditional F150s, and yes, even that of my beloved Subaru is not great, but the absolute worst are coal rollers and those with loud modified exhausts. That Newsom didn’t veto legislation that undid AB1824 was very disappointing to me.

Come to southwest Montana -- you'd be signaling "I like to blend in to the crowd" :)

While nationally Subraru marketing emphasizes being different by owning a Subaru, around here its far and away the most common car. You exit Costco, look at the parking lot and ask "which of these 10 gray Outbacks is mine?".

I think we’re saying the same thing - just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it’s not signaling. You can signal that you want to be seen as part of the majority.

I think it's also practical -- if there are tons of Subarus around then it probably means they cope with the road conditions here and are reasonably cost effective and reliable.

If you live in San Francisco and drive a truck than you might be signaling. But if you own a Tesla you are just blending in.

By contrast, here in Idaho owning a truck is just blending in. Owning a Tesla out here would be signaling.

It is interesting how perspective changes so much based on where you are.

In Oregon I swear 80% of the population owns a Subaru Outback. The other 20% owns a Prius. So owning a Subaru in Oregon is just blending in. It doesn't mean anything. But if you drove that Subaru to San Francisco, now everyone thinks you are "outdoorsy".

But blending in can also be a form of signaling. I mean, pretty much everything is I guess. From Zuckerberg’s t-shirt and jeans demeanor to my favorite form of signaling which are those that wear their faang badges to malls and restaurants on weekends. It earns an instant eye roll. I’ve made my point on signaling poorly and disjointly in the thread but my original point was that buying a brand new vehicle, whatever it be, has a lot to do with image and what you want to signal to others. You can signal that you want blend in or that you are different. It’s mostly harmless, but when you do so with a vehicle, you consider actual perf second.

I own a Subaru Outback too and the greenwash earthy crunchy marketing/image of the Outback is horrible.

It's a pig of a car in traffic. Mine is a 2013 with the smaller engine and it struggles to get 20mpg in traffic.

It was a cheap vehicle, but it most certainly is horrible on gas for it's size & work capacity.

Agreed, but my point is as long as you get to signal the image, the actual performance of the vehicle is secondary for most. Including yours truly.

The irony in this is that the imaging for subaru outbacks is "the car of choice for gays and lesbians." It's not just pickups that have associations with them.

Yeah you're just signaling being Bozeman or Boulder basic.

Keep in mind this is only in America. F-150s sell terribly anywhere else because they have to actually compete with trucks made in other countries, unlike here where foreign trucks are heavily tariffed.

Good point. I'd love to get my hands on https://www.oxdelivers.com/truck.

But their unavailability is not because of tariffs.