A $31,000 Gas Truck Got 5,500 Reservations Before It Even Exists

Ask people what happened to the small pickup and you will usually get the same answer. It got too big. Then it got too expensive.

Then it became a rolling living room with heated seats, giant screens, software subscriptions and a price tag that made ordinary buyers wonder who trucks are even for anymore.

That is the frustration REO is trying to tap into.

The Texas startup is pitching the Runabout, a small gas-powered truck aimed at people who miss when pickups were basic, useful and easy to understand.

The key number is US$21,500 (~$31,000 AUD), which sounds almost impossible in today’s truck market.

Maybe that is why people noticed. REO says it received 5,500 reservations in six days. That does not prove the truck will be built, but it does prove the idea has hit a nerve.

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The Runabout pitch is almost aggressively simple. Gas engine. Body-on-frame construction. Mechanical parts. Easy repairs. Built in Texas. Sold direct.

It sounds less like a modern startup pitch and more like someone describing the truck they wish Toyota, Ford or Nissan still made.

REO founder Zach De Bernardi is not a traditional auto executive. He is a Texas real estate entrepreneur and car enthusiast who says his inspiration comes from old Toyotas, especially the simple, durable trucks people still remember with unusual affection.

That old Toyota energy is doing a lot of work here. The Runabout is not being sold as a lifestyle accessory. It is being sold as a tool. Something affordable, fixable and honest enough to survive being used properly.

The company’s planned lineup includes the base T4X at US$21,500, while reports say a crew-cab T4C could target $25,000 and an S4C SUV around $28,500.

Those numbers are the hook because modern trucks rarely come close to them.

A new pickup is now often a luxury purchase pretending to be practical. REO is promising the opposite: a practical truck that does not apologise for being basic.

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The difficult bit comes next. Building a US$21,500 gas-powered truck in America is not the same as posting renders, opening reservations and saying the right things online.

REO still has to secure suppliers, lock in production, meet regulations and prove it can deliver the truck anywhere near the promised price. That is a huge challenge for any startup, especially one trying to build something cheap in a market where even established automakers struggle to keep costs down.

There is also the policy problem. A small gas-powered truck sounds simple to buyers, but fuel economy rules, emissions standards and political changes can quickly make the business case harder. REO seems aware of that risk, with the possibility of a hybrid option mentioned if the rules change.

REO is not the only startup chasing the cheap-truck idea. Slate is trying something similar with a small electric pickup, while REO is betting on petrol power.

It is a simple bet, but not an easy one. Still, 5,500 reservations in six days says something real.

People are tired of trucks becoming too expensive, too complicated and too far removed from their original purpose.

REO may or may not be the company that solves it. But the demand is clearly there. America still wants a basic truck. Someone just has to build one.