As soon as the lighttruck market had settled down from the consumer-crazed introduction of a few dozen new SUVs, the two biggest players in the pickup truck business, Ford and GM, delivered the second half of their one-two punch in the form of completely redesigned pickup trucks. Import manufacturers brought still more pickup news to the table, including a new full-sized model from Toyota and most notably, the first North American introduction of a compact crew-cab model from Nissan.
As the standard-issue model year continues to evaporate into the past, manufacturers are no longer sticking with early fall introductions of models for the following model year. Our 1999 roundup includes brand-new 1998 models that were introduced just as the model year started, and also preliminary information on some 2000 models announced at press time that will go on sale next June. Let’s stick with those most likely to end up in your fleet.