It's kind of ridiculous, really. You know who buys F150s? Everyone. If there were a stereotypical "truck owner" then Ford wouldn't sell better than a million of these every year. They have broad appeal to diverse demographics.
except those strange ones that buy Chevy or GMC.
Or the real outlier, those with Ram Pickups....
(I didn't realize this was a thing till my civil engineering company last century bought a GMC to replace the fords).
To this day I remember a Huge Ram diesel dually with a big dog in the bed towing in a single roll of landfill liner (23 ft long and About 2000 lbs of plastic) and thinking.. wow.
Toyota is the “not quite first tier, not Nissan or a baby truck.”
Whereas Toyota approaching Tier-1 makes a bit more sense. If nothing else, based on the fact that they're now more ”American" built than the three "domestic" truck companies.
Ram has always been a popular truck. It held they have UConnect and one of the better infotainment ecosystems. A lot of people Still don’t think of trucks as luxury vehicles because the higher end brands don’t badge one, but the top fit and finish Trucks are trying to be something else.
I mean it philosophically. "Everyone," to a rough approximation, are customers interested in a pickup. Whether Ford, Chevy, Ram, Toyota, etc.
(Edit) consumption waste of traditional F150s, and yes, even that of my beloved Subaru is not great, but the absolute worst are coal rollers and those with loud modified exhausts. That Newsom didn’t veto legislation that undid AB1824 was very disappointing to me.
While nationally Subraru marketing emphasizes being different by owning a Subaru, around here its far and away the most common car. You exit Costco, look at the parking lot and ask "which of these 10 gray Outbacks is mine?".
It's a pig of a car in traffic. Mine is a 2013 with the smaller engine and it struggles to get 20mpg in traffic.
It was a cheap vehicle, but it most certainly is horrible on gas for it's size & work capacity.
By contrast, here in Idaho owning a truck is just blending in. Owning a Tesla out here would be signaling.
It is interesting how perspective changes so much based on where you are.
In Oregon I swear 80% of the population owns a Subaru Outback. The other 20% owns a Prius. So owning a Subaru in Oregon is just blending in. It doesn't mean anything. But if you drove that Subaru to San Francisco, now everyone thinks you are "outdoorsy".