I disagree. I have a Tacoma that definitely gets treated as a truck. The bed gets filled with stuff, I use the 4x4 every time I go through the Cascades, mountain passes, or washed out roads, and I've hauled closed to the limit with it several times. Would a van do some of those things? Maybe, but certainly not all, nor for the same price point.
Real work gets done with utility vans or 15 year old trucks the size of a modern midsize suv.