Is There Really a Best Pickup Truck Brand in 2023?
Ranking the best truck brands takes in a lot of real estate. Going through consumer sites and ranking the best trucks helps lead us to determine which pickup truck brand is the winner. So we scoured MotorBiscuit’s own tests, along with Consumer Reports, Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds, and U.S. News and World Report truck winners, to determine the best brand. In the end, it was an easy choice.
How is the Best Truck Brand 2023 determined?
But before we can determine the winning brand, we need to break out the winning trucks, and that takes placing them into categories, so here’s how we break it down. We’ll look at full-size trucks, midsize, compact, and finally, electrified. Yes, four “bests” to determine the best brand.
Some of the sites we checked in with did not cover all categories. And with MotorBiscuit, it finalized tabulations to determine one overall best truck in 2022, which was the Ford Maverick. In other cases, trucks like the Honda Ridgeline, the unibody pickup, bounced around different sites between Compact and Midsize categories.
Of full-size trucks, which brand was the best for 2023?
We put it into the midsize segment, where U.S. News and World Report and Edmunds determined it to be the best. But one midsize truck offering doesn’t reflect the best brand.
For electrified trucks, there are only two on the market in 2023, the Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning. Only USNWR picked the Rivian, with two picks for the Ford Lightning. At this point, where are Ram, Toyota, Chevrolet, and Nissan?
As it turns out, they’re nowhere. Because for full-size trucks, the Ford F-150 was a unanimous choice for best pickup. So factoring into the equation the Full Size F-150, Compact Maverick, and Electric Ford Lightning picks, confirms that Ford comes out on the top as the best brand.
Why makes Ford the best truck brand?
The F-150 is the Ford franchise. So Ford spends billions of dollars developing and refining the F-150 to zero in on what a wide range of truck owners will find compelling. And “wide range” also factors into the various segments the F-Series satisfies.
Not every truck buyer wants a big truck, an electric truck, or a compact like the Maverick. So Ford breaks down its truck offerings to separate its Maverick, Ranger, F-150, F-250, et al, to satisfy specific needs. And winnowing it down further, its incredible range of engines and options, and trims seal the deal.
Truck owners seek out a personalized pickup. Now, all trucks are mass-produced, so that is virtually impossible. But with the wide range of Ford offerings, buyers do feel they own a one-of-one truck, making them popular with a wide range of buyers.
Ford leads truck development with technology and range
And then, for the most part, once the latest Ford truck gets on the market, its developments, technology, and offerings filter throughout the truck world. Many of its features then land on rival trucks. So it serves as a stalking horse of sorts.
But Ford knows what it is doing, so it has a good idea of what its latest and greatest will be received by truck buyers. The Ford truck brand is pretty much a given, so this isn’t a stretch. But it does highlight Ford’s laser-sharp hold it has in the truck world.
