Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Very cool. I recall New Zealand and Australia leading the way in small 4 door pickups before they arrived in North America.
exactly, those are small 4 door pickups, not Utes.
a Ute, short for Utility, or Coupe Utility is a car Chassis with a pickup type bed.
a Vehicle class we used to have here in the states, Vehicles like the Chevy El Camino, Ford Ranchero, Dodge Rampage, VW Rabbit Pickup/Golf Caddy/Caddy to name a few examples.
Hrm... the Wikipedia page for Ute(Vehicle) seems to say that I'm wrong... I Stand Corrected...
"Historically, the term "ute" (short for 'utility vehicle') has been used to describe a 2-door vehicle based on a passenger car chassis, such as the Holden Commodore, Australian Ford Falcon, Chevrolet El Camino and Subaru BRAT. Australian produced utes were traditionally rear-wheel drive and with the cargo tray integrated with the passenger body (as opposed to a pickup truck, where the cargo tray is separated from the passenger body).
In the 21st century, the term has become more broadly used, for any vehicle with a cargo tray at the rear (which would be called a pickup truck in other countries)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ute_(vehicle)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupé_utility