Greg Wapling

"ute"
Small truck, short for utility truck.

The generally accepted definiton for a ute is a single unit body vehicle with an large open carrying capacity. Not to be confused with a tray body or a pickup, where the body and the load carrying area are seperate units. The bodies of utes are usually derived from the passenger car equivalent.
Classic-style coupé utilities, which were first built and sold in Australia during the 1930s, by Ford and General Motors, feature an integral cargo bed, behind a two-door cabin, using a light-duty passenger vehicle-derived platform. These have a body style with coupé lines, with an integral open cargo area at the rear.

The need for a working farm vehicle which could also carry the family at weekends prompted the "Ute", designed by engineer Lewis Brandt at the Ford Motor Company works in Geelong, Victoria, in 1934. General Motors (Holden) began producing a utility in 1935. The first Holden utility was produced in 1951.

The first models typically used a light-duty body-on-frame construction, like the heavy-duty body-on-frame construction still found in heavy pickup trucks, whereas most coupé utilities now have feature a monocoque design/construction. Body-on-frame coupé utilities are light-duty, coupé-based vehicles, meaning that they can still be differentiated from heavier, truck-based pickups. However, in Australia and New Zealand, the words utility and ute may be applied to any car or light truck with an open cargo bed, regardless of size, design and construction.