Is the Regular Cab Pickup Doomed? - PickupTrucks.com
They say customer demand is behind this increase, but could a combination of factors — the most important of which is pending federal corporate average fuel economy regulations — ultimately cause the regular cab pickup to disappear. First, understand that the newest set of fuel economy regulations — set to have a major effect in 2017 — penalize truck manufacturers for selling short wheelbase versions of full-size trucks. To figure out a truck's footprint, take the track in inches (width from wheel center to wheel center), multiply it by the wheelbase in inches, then divide by 144 and you've got square footage. As you can see, regular cabs jump to the top of the list, as they have the smallest footprints. For example, a Toyota Tacoma Regular Cab with a footprint of 46. 4 square feet must achieve 32. 8 mpg in 2017, and 45. 4 mpg by 2025. A Tacoma Double Cab with a 6-foot box, on the other hand, needs to achieve just 26. 4 mpg in 2017 and 35. 5 mpg... A regular cab is a little bit smaller and lighter than a double cab, so it should do a little better in terms of mileage, but not 25 to 28 percent better. Whether looking at a regular cab short-box Ford F-150 or regular cab short-box Toyota Tundra, the story is the same: A full-size short-box regular cab has to get from 8 to 13 percent better. Source: news.pickuptrucks.com
