I can’t seem to be able to find any of such. Maybe I just don’t know the proper keyword?
The premise is like this: pickup trucks are good because they separate cargo from people. The open space allows tall stuffs to be carried. But when it rains, things can get nasty. Then why don’t we add a retractable roof over the bed? It doesn’t have to be too high, just around the cabin height is OK enough. But that’s more than twice of the typical covers. It can be stacked deep down the space between the cabin and the bed, that way it won’t block the middle rear mirror when retracted. When it rains, with a press of a button, bars will first go up and then spread towards the tail end of the truck. Similar to those convertibles, but this time it’s easier because the roof doesn’t have to go against the wind.
With that train of thought in mind, I haven’t yet found a big enough drawback for people to not use such feature. Yet if no companies are manufacturing the design, there must be a reason(s). What is it?
There is a thing called a “camper shell” to fit over a pick up bed. You’ve probably seen them, although these days you might mistake a truck so equipped for an SUV. Plenty of manufacturers for those, although none are retractable.
This pickup owner usually usually a tarp if I have to transport something in the rain.
My dad put one on the back of his truck. Rather than permanently affix it, he used several C clamps so that (with some help) he could remove it if he wanted to put something taller in the bed.
That’s exactly what I use on my pickup, works fine and I can have it removed in a few minutes so long as I have one other person to handle the other side. Shell is fiberglass so it doesn’t weigh much but it’s definitely unwieldy and without the support of the bed rail on the truck it gets a little bendy.
I saw one once with a canvas top and sides stretched over 4 rigid aluminum ribs that could slide forward to the cab when you needed to carry something tall. I had an aluminum camper shell on one truck, but it was heavy and ungainly to remove. My next truck had a flattish fiberglass lid, which was removable, but even heavier than the camper shell.
So, people, at least in the US, prefer something more permanent like a shell over an automatic convertible tarp. Makes sense, I guess it looks weak compared with such Hulk.
I saw in the ad video that the cabin actually opens into the bed when the roof slides off… which mean this is more of a SUV than a pickup, which I imagine is defined by having the 2 spaces completely separated.
1 key difference in the use of these 2 cars is that: in my vision, most of the times people will let the bed in open-air, only cover it when it rains. With the XUV, people would typically drive closed.
Aside from @thorny_locust 's argument, I’d want to add that pickup trucks are hardly the type to speed on a highway. Moreover, the cabin blocks or streamlines most of the front winds anyway.
Standard fiberglass shell with slider windows between it and the passenger compartment and behind the wheel wells. Yakima bars on the top of the shell–if I had a garage I could store it the way my ex did his, by using a block and tackle to lift it off and hang it from the rafters.
