Coupé utility
A coupé utility is a vehicle with a passenger compartment at the front and an integrated cargo tray at the rear, with the front of the cargo bed doubling as the rear of the passenger compartment.
This article is about the vehicle body style in general. For "ute" vehicles produced or sold in Australia and New Zealand, see Ute (vehicle).
The term originated in the 1930s, where it was used to distinguish passenger-car-based two-door vehicles with an integrated cargo tray from traditional pickup trucks[1] that have a cargo bed separate from the passenger compartment. Since the 2000s, this type of vehicle has also been referred to as a "pick-up",[2][3] "car-based pick-up" or "car-based truck".[4][5]
In Australia, where the traditional style of coupé utility remained popular until it ceased production in 2017, it is commonly called a "ute", although the term is also used there to describe traditional-style pickups.
Ford Ranchero
The first modern American coupe utility was the Ford Ranchero, introduced by the Ford in 1957 and produced until 1979. Unlike a standard pickup truck, the Ranchero was adapted from a two-door station wagon platform that integrated the cab and cargo bed into the body. A total of 508,355 units were produced during the model's production run.[13] Over its lifespan it was variously derived from full-sized, compact, and intermediate automobiles sold by Ford for the North American market.
The original Ranchero sold well enough to spawn a competitor from General Motors in 1959, the Chevrolet El Camino.[14]
Chevrolet El Camino
The Chevrolet El Camino is a coupé utility/pickup vehicle produced by Chevrolet from 1959 to 1960 and from 1964 to 1987.
Introduced in 1958 (for the 1959 model year) in response to the success of the Ford Ranchero pickup, its first run lasted only two years. Production resumed in 1963 (for the 1964 model year) based on the Chevelle A-platform. In 1977 (for the 1978 model year), it was shifted to the GM G-body platform. Production finished in 1987.
Although based on corresponding Chevrolet car lines, the vehicle is classified and titled in North America as a truck. GMC's badge-engineered El Camino variant, the Sprint, was introduced in 1970 (for the 1971 model year). It was renamed Caballero in 1977 (for the 1978 model year), and produced until 1987.
Other North American coupé utilities
Since the 1970s, utes have been built in Brazil under European car-maker badges, usually based on hatchbacks. For example, the Ford Courier was based on the Ford Fiesta MkIV. Current examples include the Chevrolet Montana, based on the Opel Corsa and later on the Chevrolet Agile, the Peugeot Hoggar, based on the South American Peugeot 207, the Volkswagen Saveiro, based on the Volkswagen Gol, and the Fiat Strada, based on the Fiat Palio.
Other South American coupé utility models:
Australian Holden Kingswood, Ford Falcon and Chrysler Valiant utes were sold in South Africa as the Chevrolet El Camino,[18][19] Ford Ranchero,[20][21][22] and Valiant Rustler[23][24] respectively. Some re-badged versions of South American utes are sold in South Africa (where the term "bakkie" instead of "ute" is popular) under different names, such as the Chevrolet Montana and the Ford Courier, sold there as Opel Corsa Utility (later as Chevrolet Utility)[25] and Ford Bantam respectively.
Other South African coupé utility models:
Austin Marina
A coupé utility, based on the 1971–1980 Morris Marina, with a 1275 cc engine, was badged as an Austin.[26] Not many of them were sold.
Mini
Variously badged pick-up variants were built on the chassis of the Mini estate/wagon.
Other European coupé utilities
Coupe utilities have been produced in Australia since the 1930s. The three major Australian manufacturers (GM-Holden, Ford and Chrysler) offered coupe utility versions of their most popular models, and many of the smaller manufacturers also offered coupe utilities in their range.[29][30][31][32] In many cases, if a coupe utility was not available as part of the regular model range an aftermarket coachbuilder would build one to customer order. Coupe utilities were also offered by various manufacturers on light truck style chassis,[10][33][34][35][36] alongside their regular style pickup and cab-chassis offerings.
Examples include:
Ford
General Motors-Holden
Chrysler
BMC
Standard
Rootes Group
Lightburn
