A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle

Motor vehicle

A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...

 with an open-top rear cargo area (bed).
Several North American vehicles, the Chevrolet El Camino

Chevrolet El Camino

The Chevrolet El Camino is a coupe utility vehicle produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1959–1960 model years in response to the success of its rival, Ford Ranchero. Production resumed for the 1964–1977 model years based on the Chevelle platform, and continued for the...

, Ford Ranchero

Ford Ranchero

The Ford Ranchero was a coupe utility produced between 1957 and 1979. Unlike a pickup truck, the Ranchero was adapted from a two-door station wagon platform that integrated the cab and cargo bed into the body. A total of 508,355 units were produced during the model's production run...

, Dodge Rampage

Dodge Rampage

The Dodge Rampage was a subcompact, unibody coupe utility based on Chrysler's L platform and manufactured from 1982-1984. First released as a 1982 model, the Rampage was later joined by its rebadged variant, the Plymouth Scamp....

, Honda Ridgeline

Honda Ridgeline

The Honda Ridgeline is a mid to full size sport utility truck produced by the Japanese automaker Honda. The Ridgeline was released in March 2005 as a 2006 model and is Honda's intended first foray into the North American pickup truck market. Until 2009, the Ridgeline was built in Alliston,...

 and Subaru Baja

Subaru Baja

The Subaru Baja is a light-utility, all-wheel-drive, four passenger, four-door, open-bed vehicle manufactured from 2003-2006 by Subaru. The Baja combines the handling and passenger carrying characteristics of a car with the open-bed versatility, and to a lesser degree, load capacity of a pickup...

 have beds, but are not considered by some to be trucks , because they do not fit the traditional (at least in North America) expectations of a specific architecture. Although the El Camino and the Ranchero were built with body-on-frame architectures, they were based on existing station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 platforms, while the Ridgeline uses a spot welded sheet steel monocoque (unibody

Monocoque

Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...

) chassis in the same style as modern passenger cars.