Also spent a lot of time in the industry (drywall, lath, and plaster). Key cars top out somewhere around 750 pounds of capacity, and I could early blow through that with brining materials to a job site, or hauling stuff to the dump.

Key cars are cool, but you also need other solutions in place for materials delivery and hauling. American trucks are kind of a one size fits all approach to construction. Your truck for heavy hauling is also the truck you use for light hauling.

You are right. Still the american truck is hugely oversized, even for 5 persons and cargo. But, for the sake of the argument, imagine standing on the highway. Have a gander at the cars around you. How many people per car do you see? Exactly, 90% of the time there is exactly one person in a car. What makes the american truck an extreme waste of space an ressources, beside being a health hazard to everyone outside of the car.

Cars should get smaller, not bigger.

The extended cab version of the right truck would still tick all the boxes.

Off-road and towing capacity are probably the main feature you give up with that sort of design. Whether or not most people need that is a separate story.

The percentage of trucks on the left I see actually doing that is functionally 0%

I was looking for the "America bad" comment, was not disappointed. At least that carried over from reddit.

R has a 2,200 lb carrying capacity. It can haul or tow almost anything a regular person needs to 99% of the time.

These little trucks also build and supply massive countries across the world. It's preposterous to think you need 4,000lbs of carrying capacity day in and day out. You absolutely do not.

100km/h isn't that fast...