Trophy trucks dominate Baja off-road races, but when it comes to the annual Dakar Rally, they play second fiddle to SUVs and Minis. Yes, Minis finished in first and second place this year. A Toyota Hilux pickup finished third, though.

In reality, there is not much difference between a truck and an SUV (apart from the body) in the fastest crop of vehicles. The Mini is based off a BMW 3 Series that has minimal resemblance to a production version. It would even be fair to describe Robby Gordon’s Hummer as a truck, as it is essentially a trophy truck underneath the bright-orange fiber-glass Hummer shell. If Chevrolet were to sponsor him, it would become a Chevy Silverado!

This year the Dakar Rally covered 5,000 miles, largely in deserts, through Argentina, Chile and Peru. For competitors, it was like competing in a Baja race each day for 14 days. It is quite rightly regarded as one of the toughest auto races in the world. Just to finish is a major accomplishment.

In many ways, Giniel De Villiers’ third-place finish in a Hilux is truly significant. Ever since the Dakar Rally started in 1979, the event has been won by SUVs, cars or buggies. Pickup trucks came close to winning when Nissan South Africa entered the event with top drivers, such as Colin McRae.

De Villiers won the Dakar in 2009 driving a factory Volkswagen Race Touareg. That year, Dakar moved to Argentina and Chile for the first time after terrorist threats in Africa. After winning Dakar for the third time last year, Volkswagen switched to competing in the World Rally Championship, leaving De Villiers without a ride for Dakar. He turned to Toyota South Africa, and at the last moment, three Hilux pickups — with almost stock V-8 engines — were built for the Dakar race.

Most top teams need several years to develop a winning car, so De Villiers didn’t expect to win in 2012. Instead, the truck was built to meet new rules for 2013. With less power on tap, he had a slim chance against the X-raid Mini team from Germany.

Thanks to his consistent driving, De Villiers was battling for second place by the middle of the race. The Minis were firm favorites, and yet they were being challenged by De Villiers.

Gordon ran as high as second overall, but over-exuberant driving cost him time on several stages and despite winning three stages, he finished fifth. De Villiers was much more consistent, and although he did not win any stages, he never finished out of the top 10. The only other driver who did that was Stephane Peterhansel, the winner of the race. The other two Hilux pickups finished fifth and 11th.

In all, more than 40 “regular” pickup trucks competed among the 161 vehicles in the car class. Half of these were Toyotas. The Argentinean-made Amarok, which was also an official vehicle for the organizers, was the next most popular truck. There were five Nissan Navaras (aka Frontiers) and five Mitsubishi pickups and, amazingly, a couple of Honda Ridgelines.

There was just one lone American truck, a Ford Raptor. This was the same vehicle that Sue Mead and Darren Skilton raced in last year’s Dakar when they finished 40th overall. Skilton prepared the truck again this year, but it was raced by Pedro de Uriarte from Mexico. He did not finish.

Skilton, on the other hand, entered his special prototype Revolution VI buggy that’s close to being a pickup, and he persevered, finishing 62nd overall. Among his support crew was Mark McMillin, a veteran Baja competitor who had withdrawn earlier while driving a Jeep. His pit crew in their Ford F-250 happily crewed for Skilton the rest of the way. Aside from the giant “real” trucks that compete in the actual event as well as provide support for race vehicles, full-size Ford pickups are a popular support vehicle.

Based on Team Toyota’s inaugural success with the Hilux, we might well see a pickup win next year’s Dakar for the first time. For a list of all the “car” category finishers and their times, Download General ranking stage summary car page.

This year, the Rally threads through some of the toughest sections of South America as it navigates through Argentina, Chile and Peru. You can find all the action, team info and real-time updates at Dakar.com.

Some of the most impressive racing so far has been among the team of four custom-modified, Monster-sponsored Mini Countrymans; Robby Gordon's Hummer team; and the huge number of teams using the stout Amorak turbo-diesels. We especially like the giant commercial rig Tatras in the Truck category as they blast through the same extreme terrain that that the smaller racetrucks and motorcycles have to overcome.

The Dakar Rally is scheduled to finish Jan. 16 in Lima, Peru.

With all the good news involving big investments for new and retooled assembly plants making pickup trucks that came out of the most recent UAW contract negotiations, we should remember there are costs we may not like.

Specifically, the Army is working with Ricardo Inc., an engineering firm based in the U.K. but with U.S. offices, on building improved new troop carriers. The goal? According to Ricardo's website, “The goal of the FED program, launched in late 2008, is to improve military vehicle technology, reduce fuel consumption on the battlefield and reduce the nation’s dependence on oil.” FED stands for Fuel Efficient Demonstrator.

One result is the FED Alpha, a troop carrier that gets roughly 70% better mileage than the M1114 Hummer, which gets in the neighborhood of 4 mpg. Of course, 70% better than that is not very competitive — it's about 7 mpg — for an average consumer truck, much less a car. An FED Bravo is also being developed and it runs on a hybrid-electric drive. Testing for that version is scheduled for later this year.

According to Talking Points Memo, “Driver cooperation is another important fuel-efficiency factor. As the Army notes in background materials for the FED program, 'even the most advanced fuel economy systems can be undermined by a driver with a lead foot.' To get around that, the Alpha’s gas pedal is designed to vibrate and resist when a driver tries to go faster than the most fuel-efficient maximum speed, though there is an override for emergencies.”

Other key improvements, according to TPM:

• The FED Alpha minimizes excess weight by using aluminum and aluminum alloys in structural elements.
• Specially treated low-friction parts courtesy of Ricardo.
• A custom engine, custom transmission and lightweight, high-performance brakes similar to those used in race cars.

While you won't be able to get those specialty parts any time soon, Army officials expect that some of it will make its way into the consumer arena before too long. Even so, the chances of Hummer — once seen as the icon for fuel inefficiency — being resurrected as a consumer brand seem far more remote than that.

By the way, Ricardo is the firm our sister site PickupTrucks.com uses to capture all the testing data at our pickup truck Shootouts. So, we can vouch for them.

A “Green” Humvee is in the Works (Talking Points Memo)

The most important of those shuttered brands was arguably Pontiac because of its size. In 2008, Pontiac was the 12th most popular brand in America, slotting between Kia and Mazda. So where is the Pontiac diaspora migrating? They’re mainly going to other GM brands, according to a recent study by RL Polk & Co.

In 2010, of the 57,641 former Pontiac owners looking for a new ride, nearly 53.3% of them purchased another remaining GM brand. Historically, nearly 60% of Pontiac owners have remained loyal to GM, so the figure is slightly down.

Of those buyers, nearly 33.5% went to Chevrolet, followed by GMC (11.7%), Ford (10.5%), Toyota (7.7%) and Honda (7.5%). Those figures make sense to us. Considering that Pontiac was an affordable mainstream brand, those buyers flocked to other big mainstream brands.

Overall, nearly 69% of Pontiac owners stuck with a Detroit Three brand, mainly with GM. If you think the results of this study were certain to tip to GM’s favor, that wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Since 2004, nearly 80% of Oldsmobile owners – another defunct GM brand – have moved into non-GM rides, according to Automotive News. A similar exodus was predicted for Pontiac owners.

GM offered incentives, such as free oil changes and tire rotations, and promoted GM rides on Pontiac.com. There were also additional bonus-cash offerings for Saturn and Pontiac owners in 2010, according to Automotive News.

Pontiac Owners … Where Are You Going Next? (Polk)

In 2003, several federal and state lawsuits alleged that Toyota (and other large automakers) conspired with CADA to prevent ivirtually identical new cars from being exported to the United States from Canada. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the prevention or hindrance of trade ultimately led to higher prices in the U.S. by denying consumers access to potentially cheaper cars from Canada. We're still unclear if these were decontented versions of the models tailored specifically for Canada where car prices are generally higher, currency fluctuations or other factors. You can read the details here.

Other automakers were named in the lawsuit, but they either filed bankruptcy protection (GM and Chrysler), or their federal cases were dismissed. Toyota and CADA denied any wrongdoing but settled the case for an estimated $37 million.

Some of that money is up for grabs to anyone who bought or leased any retail vehicle between Jan. 1, 2001, and April 30, 2003, from the automotive brands listed at the bottom of the post and only if you live in the following states listed at the bottom. (Like any civil settlement, there is a litany of reasons why you still might not be eligible, so please read the fine print.)

How much could you get? The lawyers who litigated the cases say they have collectively spent some $40 million but have agreed to take only 30% of the combined settlement. The 46 plaintiffs, who took time out of their lives to help litigate the lawsuit, will each get $750. The plaintiffs also tentatively agreed to donate up to $1 million of the proceeds to a non-profit group or governmental agency. If 10% of eligible claimants file for a payment, the administration costs alone could exceed $1 million.

The bottom line is that you probably wouldn’t get much. In fact, if your share of the settlement is less than $5, you won’t get anything at all.

Several states still have ongoing lawsuits, with California having one of the most active cases.

Eligible vehicle makes:

• Acura
• Audi
• BMW
• Buick
• Cadillac
• Chevrolet
• Chrysler
• Dodge
• Ford
• GMC
• Honda
• Hummer
• Infiniti
• Jaguar
• Jeep
• Land Rover
• Lexus
• Lincoln
• Mazda
• Mercedes
• Mercury
• Mini
• Nissan
• Oldsmobile
• Plymouth
• Pontiac
• Saab
• Saturn
• Toyota
• Volkswagen 
• Volvo 

Eligible states:

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Idaho
• Kansas
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Vermont
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin 

Toyota Allegedly Conspired to Keep Canadian Exports Out of US — Get a Piece of the Class Action (The Consumerist)