Down here in New Zealand, almost every single manufacturer has jumped on the ute bandwagon at some point. And were not talking about the double-cab behemoths that dominate our roads these days, but the low-slung workhorses from yesteryear.
While the Australian-built Fords and Holdens dominated this scene, the Subaru Brumby was really the only other contender in this space. But what if other manufacturers from around the world joined in on this craze?
Photos / Budget Direct Car Insurance
First up we have the one that's sort of happening, but looks nothing like the rest of the Tesla line-up. The Cybertruck basically broke the internet upon release last year due to its questionable styling.
While we're fans of the Cybertruck here at DRIVEN, it would be cool to see a ute-chopped Model S hitting the road.
Next up is the Dodge Charger-based ute.
Thanks to Chrysler's success in Australia with big V8-powered machines, this wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility, but we highly doubt this would ever happen.
What's more, a Hellcat-powered Charger ute would've been perfect to take on the HSV Maloos back in the day, but that ship has well in truly sailed.
The likelihood of Elon Musk building a V8-powered sports car is a lot higher than Ferrari ever deciding to chop the back of a sports car and turn it into a ute.
Still, this render looks incredible and s based on the FF wagon that the Italian brand built a few years back.
Just like Ferrari, Rolls-Royce is never going to build a ute, but it'd be the most boujee way to take a load of rubbish down to the local dump.
Surely this one would come with a heated tray, right?
While we're at it, let's throw this Megane RS ute rendering in with the ones that will never happen, as we can't imagine a front-wheel drive hatch would make a great platform for a load-bearing ute.
Again, a front-wheel drive Honda Civic-based ute probably hasn't happened yet for the same reason, but it's a cool render none-the-less.
Something that was more likely to happen before General Motors pulled out of all right-hand drive markets was this Camaro-based ute.
It would take all the underpinnings from the countless Holden utes that came before it, so on the scale of things, this wouldn't have surprised us too much with the death of Holden.
Finishing off this list is Audi RS4-based the ute that we'd most like to see come to fruition.
With a twin-turbo V6 sending powe to all four wheels through Audi's iconic Quattro system, this ute would be able to hit 100km/h in just 4.1 seconds with a full load.
Photos / Budget Direct Car Insurance