A Quarter Of Pickup Truck Drivers In The U.S. Name Their Trucks, Chevy Finds

U.S. pickup truck drivers are a uniquely devoted bunch, Chevrolet has found, as more than a quarter of them – 27 percent, to be exact – name their trucks. That’s according to a survey of 1,012 pickup truck drivers in the U.S., conducted by Chevrolet and Harris Poll, which found that the two most popular owner-bestowed names for pickups in the country are “Betsy” and “Big/Little/Old Red”, in that order.

But U.S. truck customers’ love for their pickups goes beyond pet names; according to the Chevrolet/Harris survey, 57% of U.S. pickup truck drivers consider their trucks part of the family. (Unlike the average canine, the pickup truck is one inhuman family member that will probably never pee on the carpet.) What’s more, 45% of survey respondents say they plan on passing their trucks on to a child or other loved one, and 60% say they “can’t live without” their trucks, with 38% even going so far as to say that they love their trucks more than any other possession.

Yet as much as U.S. pickup truck drivers dote on their vehicles, their vehicles do a lot for them, too. Of the Chevrolet/Harris survey’s 1,012 respondents, 38% say they think their trucks make them more attractive, and 37% believe the vehicles make them more popular. There could be some truth to that, assuming helping others is an attractive and popular quality, as 89% of pickup owners in the United States say they have used their trucks to help others. Thirty-three percent have helped to tow a friend or family member’s car, and 33% supporting a school, community, or charitable cause with their trucks.

And finally, 26% of survey respondents say they first learned to drive in a pickup truck, while 9% say they had their first kiss in a pickup, and 10% have brought a baby home from the hospital in a pickup. The survey didn’t ask where said babies were conceived. That’s kind of too bad.

Trucks are big business at General Motors, which since 2014 has been the only U.S. automaker with pickup entries in the midsize, full-size, and heavy-duty segments. While Fiat Chrysler’s Ram Trucks brand pulled the Dakota, and Ford withdrew the Ranger from the North American market, GM was first to reenter the midsize segment with the completely-redesigned 2015 Chevrolet Colorado. Now years later, after GM has spent four consecutive years on top in terms of total U.S. pickup truck sales and hit nearly 950k sales in 2017, Ram and Ford are both working on new midsize pickup offerings for the market.