It's almost like our enemies are rich people! Crazy thought, right?

This is why I said it became an ego thing. Automakers didn't set out to kill the most kids possible and ask "how do we design towards that", they exploited a regulatory loophole which then cracked open a wider market niche based on people's egocentrism, brutality, and myopic attitudes toward transit (e.g. carbrain).

I'm not sure if American consumers "liked" them so much as they were pushed heavily by auto makers while they quietly phased out more practically sized vehicles like hatchbacks, station wagons, and a lot of sedans (other than those sedans that fetch a high price for their performance and appeal to an entirely different market; your corvettes, mustangs, etc.) That 'light truck' designation brings with it larger profit margins; the vehicle itself is bigger so the manufacturer can charge more for it, and then they have to obey fewer environmental regulations so development/manufacturing is cheaper in comparison to trying to meet the regulations for smaller vehicles.

Slow down buddy, you're skating past everything worth talking about.

To be fair, they are hugely popular in both Canada and Mexico as well. I'll leave it to you to figure out why.

Hint; if marketing didn't work, it wouldn't be a multi-billion dollar industry.

Yeah, more like "Ban trucks that are built so high off the ground that they can't see pedestrians." That would easily include lifted trucks as well as general monstrosities.

I mean, it's not like any of these motherfuckers uses these things to haul anything other than their kids and fucking groceries anyway.

Too much of a pussy to just own it and just drive a fucking minivan, which can easily carry kids and groceries. Has to buy the big dick extender instead.

Car manufacturers have been making trucks taller and boxier because their studies show that their owners do that to their trucks after buying them so they want to be more appealing to the average pickup truck buyer... and yes that thought makes my brain hurt

Definitely stock cause it doesn't even look leveled, and no one lifts without leveling.

If Americans had to pay the same petrol taxes that Europeans do, they'd soon go for the tiny cars.