A few years ago, I was obsessed with the Jeep Gladiator truck (and more generally, with being a dude who drives a truck). The wrinkle was that I am a decidedly unhandy member of the the coastal elite and had no reason to own a truck, so I began researching hobbies that would require the regular need to haul something. I was determined to somehow go from being a character in a Noah Baumbach movie to being someone who’d fit in during the East Bound and Down musical interlude in Smokey and the Bandit. When I mentioned this quest to a friend who grew up in Texas, she laughed. “Every kid in my high school drove a pickup truck, and I don’t think any of them had any need for one. Just buy yourself the truck.” I didn’t take the advice, but it turns out millions of other Americans have joined the convoy. America is a truck nation. That’s in part because we abandoned our beloved station wagons and we now classify SUVs as trucks, but there are additional explanations. It turns out you don’t need a reason to own a truck, but car manufacturers have a few good reasons do whatever it takes to sell them. WaPo (Gift Article): The real reason trucks have taken over U.S. roadways.