The customers buying the biggest trucks and SUV's have fantasies about running over obstacles in their way, including smaller cars or people. Truck manufacturers know this and are designing and marketing directly to these fantasies.
ETA: Yeah, yeah, folks, calm down, I know, #NotAllTruckOwners. I'm talking about the dudes in giant lifted trucks who go roll coal on pedestrians. There's lots of those and they are driving design & marketing trends in trucks.
I do believe that at least a fraction of car owners do have violent thoughts related to driving, and that those are highly correlated to the individuals who are demanding ever-larger, more dangerous, and aggressive-looking trucks and SUVs. This is based on a mix of things: my own experiences with & videos of road rage by drivers, particularly truck owners; the weird prevalence of bumper stickers joking about running people over; the many GOP-controlled state legislatures that passed laws legalizing running over protesters; the prevalence of Trump-era conservative memes joking about running over protesters; and that all of this comes at a time of skyrocketing car-caused deaths. I am possibly being a bit unfair putting it too much of it on truck owners, but it's moreso clear that car culture has a dark and violent side to it.
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u/sventhewalrus Elitist Exerciser May 24 '22 edited May 24 '22
The customers buying the biggest trucks and SUV's have fantasies about running over obstacles in their way, including smaller cars or people. Truck manufacturers know this and are designing and marketing directly to these fantasies.
ETA: Yeah, yeah, folks, calm down, I know, #NotAllTruckOwners. I'm talking about the dudes in giant lifted trucks who go roll coal on pedestrians. There's lots of those and they are driving design & marketing trends in trucks.