Have you ever come across pictures of the new light pick-up trucks that are emerging in the US?
Cars such as the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz… yeah Hyundai has a “pick-up” and from the front, it looks exactly like a Tucson just with the back chopped off. SUVs are at the height of popularity right now and these pickups are based on SUV unibody frames making them both cheap to produce, easy to drive and comfortably appointed. They also remind me heavily of the classic utes of the past like the Commodore and Falcon… and it got me thinking, are these the New Utes?
What is a Ute?
First we need to define what a ute is, because what we call utes now: Hiluxs, Rangers, D-max’s – aren’t, they’re “light trucks” or “pickup trucks.” Over time we’ve combined pickups and utes together because in typical Aussie fashion, why over complicate things when you can just use one word for everything — plus we’re not Americans with their bloody yank tanks!
Light trucks are built like large commercial trucks and are placed on ladder frames. These frames are able to flex and twist to cope with their massive payloads but this also means that the cabin and tray need to be in segments so they don’t fracture when the frame twists. These light trucks also incorporate powerful, thirsty engines which are fantastic for the hard work but become awkward and hard to navigate in suburbia in everyday driving. Not to mention they’re expensive to build, maintain and fuel!
The “ute” is short for “utility” or “utility coupe” can be recognised by their continuous unbroken bodywork from cabin to tray. They are built like regular cars with a “unibody” frame and they and typically based on an already existing vehicle, usually sedans. Similar to wagons, the ute is an alternate version of the base vehicle with a special labour focus featuring a large (for its size) open tray for a tradie to carry their tools and supplies without sacrificing the cars ability to drive like a sedan. Most importantly, they were cheap to build and operate which made them sell like hot cakes during their peak in the early 2000’s.1
What Is a SUV pickup and are they utes?
So this brings me to the Hyundai Santa Cruz and the Ford Maverick because from an initial glance they look like small pick-ups. The Maverick2 looks like a baby F150 and Santa Cruz3 looks like a more utilitarian Tucson. Both of these cars are built on unibody platforms which are shared with their SUV counterparts. This makes them the cheapest trucks on the US market at $24,995USD & $27,985USD respectively and with continuous unbroken bodywork… are these not utes?
Funnily enough, these two SUV utes have come together from opposite ends of the demand spectrum. The Maverick has risen from Ford’s simplification of their car line up. All their vehicles, bar the F-Series, Bronco and the Mustang, are built on a shared unibody called the C2, from hatchbacks like the Focus to the 4x4s like Bronco Sport4 . Marketed towards light utility work like DIY and trades, the Maverick is Ford’s entry level truck which is smaller then and more affordable then the Ranger.
The Santa Cruz, on the other hand, is a step up from the Tucson, now with greater emphasis on the “U” in SUV. The car is now more practical for the outdoor adventures that SUVs are getting forced into nowadays. With an increased towing capacity, a larger wheel-base and of course the open tray, the Santa Cruz has now turned into one of the most affordable pickup trucks aimed at suburban weekend warriors5.
Comparing these cars to the Commodore of the 2000’s, they were the cheapest work cars on the market; shared many parts with the standard sedan and; are primarily used by tradies and weekend warriors for their accessibility and ability for light utility… the classic do it all ute!
What can the history of these SUV pickups tell us?
The Maverick and Santa Cruz aren’t the first SUV utes however. In the early 2000’s North America was introduced to the Chevrolet Avalanche and the Honda Ridgeline. Both of these cars were on unibody platforms and were based on existing SUVs which had the large body stylings exclusive to North America.
In 2001 Chevrolet debuted the Avalanche and marketed the vehicle as the car for those who can’t decide between a SUV and a pick up. Sounds familiar? Based on the Chevy Tahoe it still retained the comforts of the SUV but contained a short bed in the back that could be extended if you drop the rear seats known as a “mid-gate”6.
A couple of years later in 2004, Honda released the Ridgeline for drivers that needed something capable but not overpowered and cumbersome to drive like the current large pickups that were on the market, sound familiar?7 Based on the Honda Pilot its unibody got blended with a ladder frame to increase the body’s durability and now has the best of both worlds, retaining its SUV drivability but now with a reinforced, practical tray out back.
In 2007 The Avalanche got a 2nd generation but was ultimately retired in 2013. The Ridgeline however is still going and has gotten larger and more truck-like with its market position sitting between light pickups and the new SUV utes starting at $41,000USD.
Across the long pond to Australia and back into the early 2000’s the nation was currently in the Ute Golden Age where the Holden Commodore was the highest selling vehicle in the country for 15 years. At their peak in 2004 both Commodores and Ford Falcons were selling 20,000 units each, that is 1 in 10 vehicles on Australian roads and a percentage of which were the utes8. Similar to the Chevy Avalanche the Commodore ute stopped production in 2013 where sales of light trucks like the Hilux overtook the market and the general size demands for cars have grown larger moving from sedans to SUVs.
The life trajectory of the Avalanche and Ridgeline might be able to predict the future for the Maverick and Santa Cruz. The Avalanche and Ridgeline had innovative designs to be more capable. However the durability of the Ridgeline’s frame led it to become more truck-like and it has retained popularity. All these cars are North American exclusives however the Maverick and Santa Cruz are not based on the rotund American styling but the smaller international scale, making them more applicable to elsewhere in the world where the demands for SUVs are high.
Coming to Australia
In 2024 the North American and Australian consumers are now running into the same problem: Our light trucks are too overpowered, too impractical and too expensive to match the weekend warriors’ needs. Currently in Australia the “too expensive” need is being met by the more affordable utes of GWM, LDV (China) and SsangYong (Korea)9 (Purcell & Casey 2022). Although they’re less powerful than their competitors, they’re still trucks with truck disadvantages. In North America however the SUV utes target all three criteria and not only that but their SUV equivalents are all ready in Australia.
I’m not the only one seeing the potential of these vehicles Down Under. In early July last year at the launch event of the next gen Kona, Hyundai Australia COO John Kett became swamped with questions about the Santa Cruz especially in light of KIA’s pickup the Tasman being announced for 2025. Kett played down the expectations, telling journalists to “be patient” and “Maybe over the next 12 months we’ll be able to definitely say one way or the other.”
Kett’s apprehension comes from the fact that currently the Santa Cruz is solely produced for the American market and only has one factory in Alabama, Hyundai Australia’s cars are built all in Asia (Thailand and Korea). The COO also mentioned the Australian federal emission standards that were due to come out and they would also impede the likelihood of the ute’s entry.10 What Australia might have to bank on is the next generation of hybrid Tucsons in 2030 and/or a change of mind by the executives to send the car internationally.
Conclusion
The Ute is as Australian as sprinkles on buttered white bread: cheap, practical and loved by the working man. Now that the world has grown larger and more complicated, the simple ute has taken a large jump to the complex truck which has left a gap to be filled. With the Santa Cruz and Maverick seeing a success in sales since 2021 and subsidiaries like Australia actively testing the vehicles in foreign markets the idea of later generations of the vehicle becoming available in Australia becomes increasingly plausible however currently quite distant. With the segment gap for affordable, practical utility vehicles growing larger, a re-invention or a resurgence of the utility SUVs may have all the hallmarks to be the new Australian ute.
- Outback Travel Australia n.d., The true history of the ute, Outback Travel Australia. ↩︎
- Njuguna, W 2023, Cheapest New Truck On Sale In America, TopSpeed. ↩︎
- Hyundai Motor America 2023, Hyundai 2024 Santa Cruz Earned Top Pick: Best Urban Pickup by Cars.com, www.prnewswire.com. ↩︎
- Donut Media 2021, How Ford Solved The Crossover Problem, www.youtube.com. ↩︎
- Throttle House 2021, 2022 Ford Maverick vs Hyundai Santa Cruz // The $40,000 Question, www.youtube.com. ↩︎
- Garrett, M 2022, Half Pickup/Half SUV: The Lasting Legacy of the Chevy Avalanche, DrivingLine. ↩︎
- Wright, K 2022, A Journey Through the History of the Honda Ridgeline, Honda of Newnan, ↩︎
- Dowling, J 2020, Holden by the numbers: the highs and lows since 1948, Drive. &
Hagon, T & Newton, B 2021, Ute sales boom | RACV, @RACV. ↩︎ - Purcell, S & Casey, K 2022, 2022 GWM Ute v 2022 LDV T60 comparison, Drive. ↩︎
- Newton, B 2023, Hyundai ute: ‘be patient’ says local boss, carsales.com.au. ↩︎