Bring On The 2027 El Camino?

A Chevy dealer in Texas is doing high-trim single cab half ton trucks: https://www.hersamotors.com/ Shows a gap in the market? Maybe, but a handful of resto-mod U-Hauls won’t fill it. It got us to thinking, though… First, the Ranger/Colorado short beds get you the same towing and a much more usable total package than a single cab full-size truck. So really, Ford and GM already have the answer functionally to a smaller truck (SWB, Ranger and Colorado are all 210”). And yet, not really. If the issue is style, which we think it is, the resto-mod Silverado is pretty cool, but we will say that these look a little too chunky. We think the trucks we love from the 50s to the 80s we’re just less bulky than current half tons. So why not make a single cab, 210” wb, long bed Ranger/Colorado (this is a 6.5’ bed maybe) with traditional grille/hood/a-pillar angles? Nikon did this in cameras by taking a modern model and styling it with details from ‘60s cameras but leaving in 2020 functionality.

Both Ford and GM have the truck heritage to do this and the design chops to do something classic but fresh (see Bronco). Ford especially should do this. Really, they just need to do the Eluminator. It wouldn’t hurt to have a ICE version. GM should probably try an El Camino in this vein. This would make the most sense as a riff on a Chevy version of the Maverick (which GM needs anyway). But again, they should do this with significantly changed sheet metal and as a single cab. And if they made it an EV it could boast “small-block Chevy torque”. BMW has shown that making multiple variants with very different sheet metal and configurations can be done. It builds the brand and allows higher price points. GM has four meh SUVs at $30k and below. Skip the next gen of one of those? We say yes.