Ford is currently the best-selling car in the US auto market, and there is. One of the main reasons the F-150 and other full-size pickup trucks make so much noise is its versatility. Interestingly, Ford has made the F-150’s truck bed 50 percent smaller and less useful in the past few decades.
This is what the fourth generation Ford F-150 looked like
He recently published a history of the pickup truck, and the article focused on the history of the Ford F-150. Although the truck spans decades, the F-150 has only really begun to resemble its modern versions starting with the fourth generation, which debuted in 1961.
The automaker has made full second-row seats a standard feature. This increased the cab size even further, and the cab now accounts for 60% of the truck’s length compared to 40% of the bed.
With the 13th generation of the truck, which began in 2015, the automaker has once again expanded the F-150’s cabin. Currently, the F-150’s standard cab is 63% longer than the truck, while the bed is only 37% longer. This is about a 50% decrease from the proportions of the 1961 release.
This trend has occurred for several reasons
The reason the cab-to-bed ratio of the full-size truck has flipped over the past 60 years is simple. Ford and other automakers continued to upgrade the car, and this included making the cab larger.
In order to compensate for the increased cabin size, the automakers decided to shrink the bed. The 5.5-foot bed is a common choice on the F-150, for example.
Moreover, automakers have also changed their marketing tactics over the years. While many automakers still market their truck as a workhorse, these trucks are also marketed as consumer vehicles that can be used for everyday errands. This is the likely reason why, according to Axios, 63% of truck owners rarely or never use their truck to haul goods, and 52% use their truck for commuting.
