ShinerBock wrote:
Why buy a ute when a pickup truck is more practical and versatile. Once the smaller versions of the 4 door American pickup truck hit the shores of Australia, the ute's days were numbered. Pickups have been popular in the US ever since the first Ford Model T Roadster with Pickup Body came off the assembly line in 1925 forever coining the American term "pickup" truck.
No death of the car base killed them and the increasing sophistication of the Asian sourced Pickups. They still have many admirers who bought them instead of Pickups.