5 Pickup Trucks Coming Out Soon That Might Be Worth Waiting For

American drivers love their pickup trucks — the Ford F-150 has consistently been a bestseller in the United States for nearly 50 years. It's no surprise that plenty of new pickup trucks are on the horizon, hoping to appeal to U.S. families and make some extra dough for automakers amidst the ongoing tariffs. Pickup trucks have a pretty good profit margin thanks to all their trims and additional features. 

As a result, the U.S. market is seeing a wide range of new truck options, including the return of some epic powerhouses and some upcoming pickups unlike anything we've had before. From bare bones electric pickups with manual crank windows to capable off-roading pickups to a pickup with the potential to have over 500 horsepower, these are the most compelling pickup trucks coming in the next few years. It could be worth waiting for these pickup trucks if you want something different in your driveway.

The Kia Tasman is the automaker's first-ever pickup truck, and it's meant to push boundaries in the pickup space. However, it's still uncertain if truck enthusiasts want those boundaries pushed — it has been considered a flop in the regions where it already launched, but it could be a different story in the United States when it arrives before 2030. The blocky design has already been a bit controversial, standing out from other pickup trucks in the segment. 

Unlike the usual rough-and-tumble style of popular pickup trucks, the Kia Tasman is meant to be for both work and leisure. The interior is roomy and comfortable. The cabin is fitted with multiple screens. Owners can pick from a wide range of accessories to fit the Tasman into their own lifestyle, including customizable chassis cab variants. "Kia's first-ever pickup truck was created [...] to transform the market and respond to the growing preference for lifestyle-oriented trucks with advanced features," said Ho Sung Song, President and CEO at Kia. It may start as low as $35,000, but Kia has not confirmed a price.

The Slate pickup truck is expected to arrive in 2027 at just $25,000 to start. It comes at a time when Americans are jealously eyeing China's insanely cheap electric vehicles, but will the Slate fulfill that desire? In order to reach that low starting price, the Slate pickup is basically a, well, blank slate. It doesn't even come painted. Most drivers will end up paying more than $25,000 if they want to add things like paint, a radio, speakers, a center console, or roof rack. When it launches, there will be over 200 accessories to potentially add on. 

Being such a simple truck, it may not be the most comfortable ride. We've remained a bit skeptical at this point. A Jalopnik review noted how loud the cabin can get due to its shape and skeletal build: "Even at 40 mph there was a lot of wind audibly whipping right at my ear level, and I can imagine it would be a lot worse on the freeway." But hey, it's just $25,000. 

Volkswagen has revived the Scout brand and an electric pickup, Terra, is coming in 2028. Like the Scout, the Terra is quite simple in its appearance, said to be inspired by the original Scout SUV sold by International Harvester starting in the 1960s. However, you'll get a bit more with the Terra than the Slate. It's also expected to start at around $60,000. 

The Scout Terra has an all-wheel drive powertrain with an electric motor at each axle that is said to produce 1,000 lb-ft. of torque. With up to 12 inches of ground clearance and a solid rear axle, the Terra is meant to tackle challenging off-roading. It can also tow up to 10,000 pounds and has a payload capacity of 2,000 pounds. It's expected to have 350 miles of range, but an additional gasoline range extender brings that up to 500 miles. It's not exactly what we envisioned when Scout Motors returned, but the vintage appearance and off-roading chops make it quite promising. 

The original Dodge Dakota (pictured here) was discontinued back in 2011 after 25 years of production. Now, the pickup is set to return as the mid-size truck segment continues to grow in popularity. The third generation Dakota offered a V8 engine, which has given car enthusiasts some hope that it will return with a powerful engine of some sort — maybe even a Hurricane turbo inline-six. 

Unfortunately, not much is known just yet. It could start anywhere from $35,000 to $48,000, though there will be many trim levels, including an off-road Dakota Rebel variant and a powerful Dakota SRT variant. This version could have up to 500 horsepower, but could possibly bring the price point up to $65,000. The price will be quite important to the Dodge Dakota's success, since the previous generation was discontinued in part due to its price, which was getting too similar to the Dodge Ram 1500.

Ford has been teasing its upcoming $28,350 electric pickup for a while now, finally revealed to be called the Ford Fathom. This will be part of Ford's new mid-size electric lineup utilizing its Universal Electric Vehicle platform, which makes vehicles affordable by sharing a chassis and embracing unicasting, which removes a lot of smaller components to simplify the production process, called the Universal EV Production System.  

Ford is still stingy with the details, but we know the Fathom will use a 400-volt system and lithium-iron-phosphate batteries to cut down on costs. The range is still unknown, as is the horsepower, although Ford claims it will hit 60 miles per hour as fast as an EcoBoost Mustang, which is around 4.5 seconds. It may not be the most flashy pickup truck out there, but it's the pivot that Ford felt was right for the American truck market after the discontinuation of the Ford F-150 Lightning.