The SUV and crossover segment is on an all-time roll now. Another extension of this trend is compact pick-ups which are also growing in demand. This explains the decision of automakers like Hyundai to foray into unchartered territory by pitching in their first-ever pick-up truck: the 2022 Santa Cruz. On that note, the entry-level pick-up segment is a bridge between capable SUVs and brawny trucks.

The likes of Ford F-150 and Chevy Colorado are also positioned as entry-level trucks. But there is a set of humbler pick-ups that are built on SUV platforms that include the Honda Ridgeline, Nissan Frontier, and now, the all-new Hyundai Santa Cruz. Utes were makeshift pick-ups that were made out of a sedan. Those were quite popular from 1950 to 1990: with the likes of Chevy El Camino, Ford Ranchero, Subaru Brat, and Volkswagen Rabbit Sportruck.

The current bunch of compact pick-up trucks are more or less, the spiritual successors of these part-truck-part-sedan iterations of the time gone by. Of the current bunch, it is the Honda Ridgeline that has stayed on the podium for this long. But its domination might be snatched by the upcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz that puts up a serious all-rounder image, enough to get Honda's attention.