This idea touches on a couple
This idea touches on a couple good points. Pickup truck sales in the U.S. is HUGE, but so are pickup trucks today. The Ranger and Colorado are smaller, but not by much.In the 80s and 90s there was a thriving market in mini-pickups, which were compact car sized pickups with 4 cylinder engines. They were smaller trucks that behaved like economy cars. But they were not as profitable as full sized trucks, so they got squeezed out and mostly forgotten, except by fans. In Australia they have a class of vehicle that is a passenger car, but has a pickup truck bed out back. They are called Utes, and they have the economy, comfort, and handling of passenger cars, but the added utility of a pickup. I always thought that there would be a good market for a mini-pickup or Ute here. Toyota had some nice mini pickups, years ago, but like the other automakers they were phased out in favor of either regular economy cars or crossovers and smaller SUVs. I have seen pictures of people who repaired the occasional Prius that had been rear-ended and built it into a custom pickup. Of course most of them trade the rear seats for the pickup bed, which reduces the practicality if you plan to carry passengers as well as cargo. I always liked the Subaru Brat, which had an open pickup bed, but the had rear facing seats for passengers in the bed, which was cool for warm climates, but impractical for many people (if still fun). In short, I like the idea of a Prius pickup, but I really doubt that Toyota will ever build them.