What Was the First Honda Pickup Truck?

The First Honda Pickup Truck

Since the late 1960’s, Honda Motor Company has been a leader in automotive innovation and engineering. The Japanese automaker quickly made a name for itself with its reliable, fuel-efficient cars and motorcycles. However, it was not until the late 1970s that Honda entered the pickup truck market with its first model – the Civic Pickup.

The Civic Pickup was introduced in 1979 and was based on the successful Civic hatchback model. It featured a two-door body style and had room for up to four passengers.

The truck was powered by an 81 horsepower 1.5-liter engine, which made it one of the most fuel efficient trucks on the market at that time. The standard transmission was a four-speed manual, but an optional three-speed automatic was also available.

The Civic Pickup had some unique features that set it apart from competitors at the time. It had an adjustable seatbelt system that allowed passengers to adjust their seatbelts to their size, as well as an optional airbag system for added safety. It also featured an upgraded suspension design that provided improved handling and greater comfort compared to other trucks on the market at that time.

Despite its innovative features and impressive fuel efficiency, sales of the Civic Pickup were slow due to its limited cargo capacity and lack of power compared to other pickup trucks on the market at that time. Production of the Civic Pickup ended in 1983 after just four years on sale in Japan and elsewhere throughout Asia Pacific markets.

Honda would not enter back into the pickup truck market until 1997 with its Ridgeline model which featured a more powerful engine, more cargo space, and a unique unibody construction instead of traditional body-on-frame designs used by competitors such as Ford’s F-150 or Chevrolet’s Silverado models.

Overall, although Honda’s first pickup truck –the Civic Pickup – wasn’t particularly successful or groundbreaking at the time of its release, it did pave the way for future models such as Ridgeline which have seen greater success in both sales figures and accolades from automotive media outlets worldwide.

Conclusion: The first pickup truck created by Honda Motor Company was released in 1979 under their popular Civic series – known simply as “Civic Pickup.” Despite being lauded for its innovative features such as adjustable seatbelts and airbags coupled with impressive fuel efficiency ratings compared to other pickups on sale at that time, sales were slow due to limited cargo capacity and lack of power when compared to other offerings from rival automakers such as Ford or Chevrolet. Nevertheless, this early foray into pickup trucks paved way for future models such as Ridgeline which have since seen much greater success in both sales figures and industry awards worldwide.

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Susan Delgado