For some time, commentators on this site have bemoaned the lackluster lineup of small pickups on offer stateside. Many suggested that India's Mahindara & Mahindra should enter the U.S. market with a simple, small, economical and tough-as-nails pickup. Well, how about the Mazda BT-50? The Full Throttle section of the iAfrica website signals the arrival of the latest version of the flatbed formerly known as the Drifter. The BT-50 looks like just the ticket for frugal pickup drivers, what with a 3.0-litre common-rail direct-injection turbo diesel engine good for 115kW at 3200rpm and 380Nm of torque at 1800rpm. (Do the math; it's good.) We reckon if it weren't for that damn 25 percent "chicken tax" on imported pickups, the states would be awash with these next gen small pickups, saving gas and kicking ass.
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BRING ‘EM ON!
I love the idea of a truck as a second vehicle/beater/blunt instrument. A good truck is like a true sportscar, uncompromising. Give me a cheap, small, pickup with the option of a diesel and 4WD. Leave the leather, DVDs, and other frivolity to the passenger haulers… Not the “stuff” haulers.
This is the kind of vehicle I want to replace my Dodge Dakota with in 5 years. I just hope they make it here in that time.
The chicken tax must die, that rig is sweet!
I’m with you Sajeev, kill the chickens and bring us some foreign oil burners.
I doubt the diesel would make it past our EPA laws. I’m another small pickup fanatic but the reality of sales is that Americans have been buying more of the bigger pickups. Whenever company a “upsizes” their truck, company “b” loses sales to the newer, bigger, thirstier competition. Case in point is the (apparently doomed) Ford Ranger, about the last “small” truck made (although not really that small) which only a decade ago was the top selling small truck made, and which has now lost its place to the supersized Toyota Tacoma (here’s an interesting factoid: The new Tacoma is about the same size as the T-100, Toyota’s first “full size” truck sold 10-11 years ago.)
Whether the American buyer’s desire for bigger and more powerful trucks is due to our bulging wallets, our bulging waistlines, or some combination of both, I don’t think we’ll see any viable small truck anytime soon, and more’s the pity.
BTW, as regards the “chicken tax” comments, I’m not intimately familiar with the tax itself but I believe a manufacturer could get around it by importing the parts and doing final assembly in the US. IIRC this is exactly what the Japanese manufacturers did in the 80’s to avoid the tax.
Nope, I disagree. The compact pcikup’s are now going for ridiculous premiums compared with a year ago. The market now is VERY fertile for a good compact that is under 20k.
The problem is that these vehicles tend to represent lower profits and are therefore not as strongly marketed as the full-sized offerings. You also have to take into account that nearly every major auto manufacturer today has some type of full-sized vehicle that sells for well north of 30k. Five years ago that wasn’t the case.
What I’d like is a small truck with a long bed – say 7′. One can still get a Ranger that way, though it might have to be special ordered rather than found on the lot.
Today’s small trucks often seem to be tall 4 door sedans with a practically useless somewhat pickup-ish bed.
I still like the Ranger and consider it a good buy in the small truck category, but I can really see a place for a small (as in Hilux sized) long bed diesel, in plane jane form.
A Mazda 2007 B-Series 2.3L SX (4×2) is available in Canada for CAD15,000 base. Since the USD is near parity with the CAD, that’s easy math. Sadly, the diesel engine is not offered in Canada. The 4.0L 4×4 super-cab variant with automatic transmission and air-conditioning jumps the price to CAD23,450.