With America’s ever increasing waist line cars keep getting bigger from their previous generation. The same is true for compact pick ups. The Ford Ranger is the only truck that has retained its small size ( only because Ford has not redesigned it twenty years). Me having had a Toyota pick up in high school am excited to see their modern take on this tiny Yoter.

Think back to the eighties and the trucks that were around, S-10, Dakota, Frontier, Ranger. Trucks so small a six foot man could not fit. With gas the way it is small is coming back, and why not. How many people ever use their big trucks any way. As long as you can fit a 4×8 foot piece of wood in there from time to time, you’re good to go. So the story goes fro A-BAT.

What the hell does that mean anyway. Give names to cars, let consumer connect to them like the good ‘ol days. Anyway, here we go.

The side view is pretty nice with a coupe like window, high belt line and nice body side undulation. When you get around the front side though it begins to look a bit foreign. The high, skinny headlights leave a lot of awkward real estate on the front corners. The wrap around front bumper is clean but boring. The entire front end feels very unresolved.

The rear taillights are sporty and work well with the body form. A pull out drawer and many storage cubbies in the bed make good use of the usually wasted space around the wheel wells.

THe instrument panel is interesting with its overlapping forms and contrasting color. Too bad it will never make it to production. Although I don’t see why it couldn’t. Maybe the steering whhel would be a bit funky to hold on to.

Although unrefined in a few areas I think it is a pretty nice design. With a lot of functionality using the drop down mid gate and storage in the bed. The bad thing is that design is not really new and borrows a lot from other trucks. Honda Ridgline, Chevy Avalanche, And Dodge Rampage concept are just a few with similar design and function.

The Honda and Chevy never won the hearts of many people, so could Toyota put the right piece together to create a compelling package? Wait and see.