FRont 3/4 view of a red Mazda B4000As someone who lives in the United States, it is impossible to escape pickup trucks. Millions of the things are sold in our beautiful, nightmarish country every single year, from crossover-based pickups like the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz to hulking heavy-duty trucks like the Ford Super Duty and Ram 3500, and some other niches in between. It seems like more and more automakers are coming out with new pickups all the time, with the most recent announcements coming from Hyundai and Kia.That led me to my question from last week, where I asked our audience to tell me which car company they think should be next to come out with a new pickup truck. Your answers ran the gamut from affordable to high-end, but the most popular answer was a brand you may not be expecting: Mazda. A lot of you think Mazda should make a new truck. I don't think that would be a good business decision, but it would definitely be an interesting one. Without further ado, these are my favorite answers: NissanFront 3/4 view of a Nissan Hardbody pickupNissan. The Titan is gone. The Frontier has gone full upper-level midsize. The Ford Maverick is showing small trucks are selling. Nissan still has a solid reputation with trucks so it makes a lot of sense to make what people want – a smaller, more efficient pickup that doesn't cost a small fortune. Keep it between $28K-$32K, passable back seat, 1990s colors, and watch it fly off of the lots.Submitted by: Xavier96I think Nissan should do a Leaf-based truck. MazdaFront 3/4 view of a red Mazda BT-50Realistically? Chevy needs a Maverick competitor.Non-realistically? Mazda. Something like the Slate truck, but with an IC engine (or hybrid) and a manual.It would be cool to have new Mazda mini-truck. Make it available with every powertrain they have, including the big straight six from the CX-90. If they could get a hybrid version, too, that would be awesome. Give it a good dose of the ol' zoom-zoom, too!Let's get weird with it. Mazda, Rotary, Hybrid, Cab-over, Option flat bed with fold down sides, Available in Soul Red CrystalI think a small, Maverick-sized truck would fit well into the Mazda portfolio. Something sporty and light, with either a manual 4-cylinder turbo or the Toyota-sourced hybrid system from the CX-50.The Mazda BT-50. It technically does not count since they already make it overseas and would need to be imported. So it fails the QOTD, but it is still my pick. As someone mentioned earlier, 80k+ trucks are now the norm. Picture a Tundra competitor, built on the CX-90 platform, with Mazda's sweet Kodo design language and their 3.3 mild hybrid I6. I think it would be a hit and give people in the market for full size trucks more options.Submitted by: Crucial Taunt, Stillnotatony, half man half bear half pig, JonRob 951, Dano NahabedianI don't think anyone would buy a new Mazda truck in the U.S., but maybe I'm wrong! MiniA Mini Red Bull promo vehicleI'll go with MINI. MINI Backcountryman. Left the thing a bit, chunky tires, 5 foot bed. What's not to like.Submitted by: FunkatronYou can already buy a Mini ute — just get a used ex-Red Bull promo car. LexusFront 3/4 view of a green Lexus GXLexus should build a pickup because they've already got all the tough truck guts from Toyota—same bones as a Toyota Tundra—they just know how to make it ride quiet, smooth, and last forever. Imagine a truck that can still haul, tow, and take a beating, but the inside feels better than your living room, like a Lexus GX 550. You'd get the strength you actually need, plus comfort that doesn't wear you out on a long drive, and it'd probably run longer with fewer headaches than most of the fancy trucks out there now. That's a truck a guy could use all week and still enjoy driving on the weekend.That's an excellent idea. And there's already precedent. Toyota has made several Land Cruiser pickups over the years, and it's rumored they're bringing one back in 2027. It would be a simple thing for Toyota to swap over the GX front clip and interior given that it and the Land Cruiser Prado are mechanically identical.Submitted by: Papa Chris, MrMcGeeIn3DIt's kinda wild that Lexus hasn't done this yet. VolvoRear 3/4 view of a red Volvo 240 uteVolvo. I would have loved to see a Volvo pickup during the 80s and 90s at the height of their bulletproof bricks. Although that era is gone now, I think the company could still pull off a pickup today. They already make semi truck cabs, and even if it doesn't come to the U.S., Sweden's geography would still be conducive for a Volvo pickup.Submitted by: GiantsgiantsVolvo definitely should do a ute. BMWRear 3/4 view of a white BMW M3 uteBMW. For no other reason than I think a 3 series based small truck/Ute would be an absolute ballSubmitted by: JaredOfLondonYes. Especially if it's based on the new i3. ChryslerA white Plymouth Arrow pickup on a black backgroundSomething so dumb, it might work: Chrysler. Give us a softer Ram truck. Fully embrace it'll be a parking lot queen, and will see only the occasional bag of dirt from Home Depot. Lean into the fact most pickups are just Minivans for Men™️ with a bed anyways.We've already seen with Lincoln Blackwood and Escalade EXT that these truck buyers don't want to be seen as wanting a softer truck. It has to be a "working man's" truck with all the macho branding no matter how luxurious it got. Triply so with typical RAM buyers.I mean, if they were confident enough of their manhood to buy the car that they actually need, they would've bought that Pacifica anyways. A vinyl tarp in the back is perfectly sufficient for those occasional Home Depot run and the covered rear hatch is more useful for the remaining 99%.Submitted by: Scoobie2, VarPlymouth made a bunch of trucks, but it's surprising Chrysler never did. HondaFront 3/4 view of a blue Honda Acty truckHonda tried and had some success with the Ridgeline. They should just downsize it to compete with the Maverick. Have three trims, base, hybrid and type R. Base trim comes with si engine standard, hybrid gets the fanatic civic hybrid setup and the TypeR of course would get the turbo K.Submitted by: MinivanmanApproximately three people would by a Honda Type R pickup but I like your thinking. Mercedes-BenzFront 3/4 view of a white Mercedes-Benz Sprinter truckLiving Texas, people really try to believe pick ups can be luxury vehicles, so why not just go all the way with it with a full sized, half ton pick up truck. Build them here to get around the "chicken tax". If people will pay past 100k for King Ranches and the like, they'll HAPPILY drop 180k for a MB truck. Hell, even make a Maybach version. There's totally a market for it with the oil magnets in the south.Mercedes Benz. Forget about the forgettable, just like everyone else, Nissan based X-class. Take a low-floor Metris van, make it hybrid AWD, keep two seating rows, and chop off the back, make it into a 6' L bed. Semi-cab over with bigger wheels and butch-up the look. Something that doesn't exist yet in the N.A. market, but should. They already make a Sprinter van with AWD. A mid-size pickup would be awesome. Every mid-size pickup has a $60K+ version, which is in M-B territory.Submitted by: Marcus C, Singletrack Range RoverRear 3/4 view of a red Startech Range Rover pickupi know it may sound weird, but Range Rover, think a 4 door range rover with an actual bed and all the trappings of modern range rovers, like Jason Statham in business casual with flipflops.Submitted by: TexasJalopySlingerGreat idea. ToyotaFront 3/4 view of a Toyota Hilux with orange stripesI dont get why toyota made the corolla cross when they could have made a corolla or rav4 based pickup. Expecially when they have a decent corolla hatch and the rav4 alreadyToyota, who is probably already making one. Between Maverick's success and Santa Cruz' lack there of (quite a shame), I'm guessing people are looking for something cheap and practical more than lifestyle. So something like a Corolla Cross with a bed? I'm guessing a RAV4 based truck will be too expensive.Submitted by: VarI have to imagine Toyota will have a Maverick competitor on sale within the next few years, they'd be dumb not to. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.
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