Honda Ready To Roll Out New Ridgeline Pickup Truck

Honda’s made over Ridgeline has arrived at just the right time.

The all-new pickup, introduced at the North American International Auto Show, joins one of the fastest growing segments in automotive industry: The midsize pickup segment.

Midsize pickups as a whole grew 48.4 percent while the entire industry grew 5.7 percent in 2015, according to AutoData Corp. The massive growth arrived with the introduction of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, which added to the segment instead of stealing sales from the front runner, the Toyota Tacoma, which also saw sales climb 15.8 percent for the year.

The Ridgeline, with its unibody construction, smooth ride and unique features, should add to the segment again, instead of fighting for a finite number of customers already there.

“These will be incremental sales increases,” said Rebecca Lindland, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “I see a lot of replacement demand.”

Lindland said that the type of customer who might by a Ridgeline would be less interested in the other midsize pickups.

“These are family vehicles,” Lindland said. “It’s a lifestyle truck.”

The Ridgeline arrives later this year with a different take on what a pickup should be for its customers.

John Mendel, executive vice president of America Honda Motor Co., said during the Ridgeline’s debut that Ridgeline purposely moves away from more traditional body on frame pickups, offering customers a clear difference than the Tacoma, Colorado and Canyon.

“We think we’ve got a better idea, a truck that uses its unibody construction and Honda packaging magic to deliver more of the things that many of today’s truck customers want and need with none of the things they don’t,” Mendel said during the press conference on Monday.

The Ridgeline arrives with either front-wheel or all-wheel drive and will be powered by Honda’s 3.5L direct injection V6. It will be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. While fuel economy numbers have not been reported, Honda executives said they expect it to deliver a segment-leading number, which currently stands at 27 miles per gallon.

There are also some interesting features that Honda has carried over some of the Ridgeline’s popular features such as the In-Bed Trunk and the tailgate that opens two different ways. Honda has also added an in-bed stereo system to help those who need to listen to tunes while tailgating. The bed offers a 4-foot wide loading space, though it remains short at 5-feet, 4-inches. The bed also offers an optional 400-Watt power inverter in one corner to plug in tools and other devices (Honda suggests a blender). It should also have around a 1,600-pound payload capacity, though final numbers were not released.

While no one in the media has driven the new Ridgeline, it will likely have a smoother ride than the outgoing model, which, when the bed was empty was far and away more gentle than any of its competition.

Honda will only offer a crew cabin version of the Ridgeline with the small bed. But the luxurious interior that includes Apple Car Play and Android Auto, as well as an 8-inch display screen and a second row that includes a 60/40 rear seat split.

Just five years ago, many automakers said the midsize segment was going to disappear, as companies like Ford, GM and Chrysler stopped production of their midsize pickups in the United States.

However, the recent resurgence suggest that there remains a strong group of customers who do not want to own fullsize pickups that have grown in size that many barely fit in a suburban garage. Even midsize pickups have grown to proportions fullsize pickups were just 15 years ago.

Even as midsize pickup sales have skyrocketed, big pickups remain the top selling products and biggest money-makers for all of Detroit’s automakers. Ford sold 780,000 F-Series pickups, GM sold 825,000 Colorados and Sierras, and Ram sold 450,000 pickups.