Is Bigger Better? The US Pick-up Trucks Taking Over Australia

Visitors to the US often wonder if they’ve been hit by a shrink ray while they were passing through customs, because suddenly everything there seems so much bigger: the food servings, the freeways, the hats and, most of all, the cars.

That especially goes for oversized pick-up trucks – or what we Aussies prefer to call utes – which Americans have a deep and abiding love for. These giants on wheels are so big, in fact, that another thing you notice in the US is that parking spaces are larger to accommodate them.

The American Truck Phenomenon in Australia

The love of these vehicles has now caught on in Australia, where drivers with size envy are making US pick-up trucks more popular than ever, despite the fact that none of them are actually produced in right-hand drive for markets like ours (and there simply isn’t room for them in places like the UK and Japan).

That’s no longer an issue, however, with factory-backed right-hand drive re-engineering now happening in Australia at unprecedented levels, giving buyers the opportunity to climb into these beefy, brawny road hogs.

The Future of US Trucks in the Australian Landscape

Close to 8000 American pick-up trucks were sold in Australia in 2022, with that number set to climb by the end of 2023.

Top American Pick-up Trucks for Sale in Australia

Here’s your guide on how to go big and go home with a bulky US pick-up.

Ford shifted a whopping 640,000-plus F-Series pick-up trucks in the States during 2022, which equates to about one F-Series truck being sold every 49 seconds over the past year. Collected from 56 markets around the world, revealed the Ford F-Series has remained the best-selling vehicle on a global scale. The F-Series range includes the F-250 and F-600 Super Duty models, the all-electric Lightning variant and the F-150, an enormously popular pick-up that’s expected to hit Australia from July this year.

The trucks will be re-engineered locally into right-hand-drive vehicles by Thailand-based firm RMA Group at a new facility north of Melbourne, with two variants available to customers – the XLT prices start from AU$106,950, plus on-road costs and Lariat long wheelbase range topper will set you back AU$140,945, plus on-road costs. Grunt-wise, you’re looking at a twin-turbo V6 petrol engine providing outputs of 298kW/678Nm which are delivered to all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission.

But what about size? Short wheelbase models measure 3683mm from rear to front axle and come with a 1676mm ute tub (that extends to 3987mm and a 1918mm ute tub for the long wheel-base variants). The all-important towing capacity is 4.5 tonnes, which is a whole tonne more than Toyota’s popular LandCruiser and Patrol models. Speaking of which…

Toyota of course has the HiLux, Australia’s top-selling ute, and now the US-sized Tundra pick-up looks set to make its way to Australian showrooms, with Toyota confirming it will be re-manufacturing units at Victoria’s Walkinshaw Group, the former parent company of Holden Special Vehicles.

Before it’s available to the public, however, the 3.5-litre twin-turbo hybrid petrol V6 with outputs of 286kW/650Nm (estimated to be priced between $120,000 and $140,000, which is a lot for a Toyota) has to pass some intensive real-world tests as part of a 300-strong customer fleet.

If it passes with flying colours you should find the Tundra in Australian showrooms from mid-2024.

Ram has led the US pick-up renaissance in Australia, with imported trucks re-engineered locally to right-hand-drive vehicles by the folk at Walkinshaw.

Offering the top-selling Ram 1500 in a number of variants, along with the Heavy Duty 2500 Laramie and Heavy Duty 3500 Laramie, Ram has seen sales in Australian balloon from 292 in 2016 to a record 6095 trucks sold in 2022, a 51 per cent increase on 2021.

Ram boasts the cheapest entry point in the segment with prices starting from $82,950 plus on-road costs for the entry-level 1500, which has a 5.7-litre petrol V8 engine making 291kW of power and 556Nm of torque, enough to give it 4.5 tonnes of towing power.

^Disclaimer

^{Viva Energy Australia Pty Ltd (“Viva Energy”) has compiled the above article for your general information and to use as a general reference. Whilst all reasonable care has been taken by Viva Energy in compiling this article, Viva Energy does not warrant or represent that the information in the article is free from errors or omissions or is suitable for your intended use.}