Pickup trucks equipped with a stepside bed have long been a popular choice among truck enthusiasts. The stepside allows you to easily access the bed of your truck. Some people even feel that having a stepside truck helps to improve the overall handling of the truck.

While the stepside bed does have some major advantages over other bed styles, some manufacturers have decided to stop making the stepside. So, is the stepside truck becoming a thing of the past? Can you still buy a stepside truck today? Here are the answers to those questions and more.

What are the different types of bed styles?

 When referring to a truck bed, there are four main styles: fleetside, styleside, flareside, and stepside.

Whether you have a fleetside or a styleside bed depends on what manufacturer made your truck. Both of these beds are pretty much the same style. Most manufacturers use these beds as their standard style of bed.

This style features a flat, box-shaped bed that has the wheel well housed inside the bed. The wheel wells do take up a little more room in the bed, but you can get this style in a long-box version to maximize the bed space. 

The main difference between fleetside and styleside beds is just the name itself. Most manufacturers like Dodge, GM, and Toyota use the term fleetside when referencing their standard bed style. However, Ford uses the term styleside when describing the same style of bed.

It’s the same story with the stepside and the flareside truck beds. Both of these styles have their wheel wells positioned on the outside of the truck bed as well as a step to help you climb in and out of the bed more easily. Once again, Dodge, GM, Toyota, and most other truck manufacturers use the term “stepside,” while Ford chose to go their own way and name this specific style of bed “flareside.”

Do automakers still make stepside trucks?

Stepside or flareside trucks were very popular back in the ’50s and ’60s. Back then, the stepside truck bed was considered to be the “standard” style of bed. As the years have gone by, however, many manufacturers have started to phase it out.

Up until the early 2000s, all manufacturers still sold the stepside truck. Ford continued to make its flareside truck until around 2009. The main reason why manufacturers no longer make the stepside is that the overall style of trucks has evolved.

You no longer have to have a bulky-looking truck bed for it to be practical and functional. Instead, truck manufacturers have incorporated the step on the rear bumper. With this new style, owners still have an easy way to access the bed of their truck while having a flat bed that help to give the truck a more sophisticated style.

In the future, there may be some manufacturers that choose to come out with a special-edition “retro” stepside bed, but for now, it looks as if this particular style is a thing of the past.

Is GM coming out with a new stepside truck?

In 2018, many people spotted a GMC Sierra stepside truck out and about. Seeing this truck made many fans hopeful that GMC had decided to bring back the stepside truck. However, GM Authority reported that it would be “highly unlikely.” Now, it’s been two years since the stepside Sierra was spotted, and we have yet to see it being released to the market.