It doesn’t matter if you actually like to drive pickup trucks; these vehicles have been everywhere. Pickup trucks used to be simple, like the Ford F-150, but 2021 brought small trucks, electric trucks, and everything in between. The old classics are still there, too, such as the Toyota Tundra, Tacoma, and Ram 1500. However, what were some of the highlights of this year’s pickup truck market?

Small pickup trucks are having a big moment

CNN recently said that this year was a “revolutionary year in pickup trucks,” and that rings true at MotorBiscuit as well. When it comes to small pickup trucks, the market used to have around zero options. However, 2021 found the Ford Maverick, Hyundai Santa Cruz, and even the old Nissan Frontier in the news.

This year, the Ford Maverick might be the most talked-about small pickup truck. It shares a platform with the Ford Escape SUV and Ford Bronco SUV and will come standard as a hybrid. Priced between $19,995 and $29,880, the Maverick is also pretty affordable.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a pickup truck that acts more like an SUV. It has a big enough truck bed to do the job but offers the versatility of an SUV. The Santa Cruz also has a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds, making it pretty well-suited for truck life. Hyundai has priced the Santa Cruz between $23,990 and $39,720. People lined up to get both the Santa Cruz and Maverick on order, which opened the truck world up to those who might not have been a fan before.

The Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck has struck gold

According to CNN, about 50% of the vehicles sold in 2011 were cars (not trucks or SUVs). Since then, pickup trucks have taken over and gone from about 14% of the market share to over 40% like cars used to be. SUVs and vans take the remaining 60% of the market. But with the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck rolling out soon, those numbers could change even more soon.

While everyone is focused on electric vehicles, the F-150 Lightning is in the spotlight. Ford recently said that the Lightning has nearly 200,000 reservations to fill, over three years of production. The automaker plans to ramp up production in the coming years to meet demand, but who knows how that will go.

On top of that, the new Chevrolet Silverado EV electric truck is also coming in early 2023. With details sparse at this time, people seem to be obsessed with details of the electric Silverado – one of the most popular pickup trucks on the market currently.

The Rivian R1T electric pickup truck also made a big splash in 2021. Rivian won the “Truck of the Year” award from MotorTrend, even though it hasn’t started delivering. The new automaker has seen a few hiccups along the way but seems to have enough buyers in line waiting for the electric truck.

The Tesla Cybertruck and Hummer EV truck might show up, eventually

If you asked someone from 2011 to build an electric truck, it might look like the Tesla Cybertruck. While Tesla was full speed ahead on the electric truck, delay after delay has made the Cybertruck impossible to get any time soon. It looks more like a metal doorstop than a truck, but the Tesla fans wait with bated breath to see these reservations come to fruition.

One of the more surprising pickup trucks to actually roll off the production line this year is the Hummer EV truck. While every automaker had issues with production this year, Hummer was able to bring the electric vehicle truck out into the wild before the end of 2021.

While many of these trucks have only started deliveries in the last month of the year, 2022 should see the popularity of pickup trucks continue. Will the Tesla Cybertruck show its boxy self this year, or will that wait until 2023? Will people love the Ford F-150 Lightning like Ford thinks they will? And will the Ford Maverick be everything buyers hoped it would be? 2021 might have been the year of the pickup truck, but 2022 will be the year for delivery of the pickup truck, electric pickup, and the small pickup truck.