In the Outback, It's a Ute, Mate (Published 2002) (2024)

THE ''ute'' is to Australians what the pickup is to Americans: a blue-collar icon and a symbol of rugged independence. Utes are integral to everyday existence in the bush -- and, increasingly, to life in the city.

What's a ute? A utility vehicle, though the term has a different connotation down under. Simply put, it is a pickup based on a sedan -- a car with a cargo bed. There have been utes in the United States, too, though they were seldom called that. The Ford Ranchero made its debut as a 1957 model and Chevrolet introduced its El Camino for 1959. Both ceased production long ago.

The Australian ute's origins date to Ford ''roadster utilities'' built in Geelong, Victoria, in 1930; these were essentially the same Model A roadsters with pickup beds that were sold in the United States. But within a few years, American and Australian trucks headed onto different paths. In the United States, pickups grew ever larger and more distinct from cars; in Australia, the ute remained closely tied to automobile designs.

The early roadster-utes were unpleasant in a land with so much dust, so in 1934, Ford started making a ''coupe utility'' with a metal top and windup windows -- reportedly at the request of a farmer's wife. ''She wrote to Ford and said she wanted a car they could drive to church on Sunday and take animals to market on Monday,'' said Phil Newell of Portland, Ore., an Australian who imports old utes and muscle cars -- think ''Mad Max'' -- at www.AussieCarImports.com.

Today's utes look like station wagons with the tops cut off behind the front seats. Every year, Australians buy 70,000 utes and small pickups, about 9 percent of the vehicle market. The Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore, from General Motors, each have about a quarter of the market, with Japanese imports accounting for the other 50 percent.

Utes can be muscle cars, with the Holden SS facing off against the Ford XR8 Pursuit Ute. Both have V-8's rated at about 300 horsepower and five-speed manual transmissions.