A half-ton, crew cab truck is extremely versatile. It has more room inside for passengers than basically any car on the market barring none. The rear seats can be folded up to the back wall, allowing a flat floor that is large and can accommodate a lot. The seats are comfortable, the cab is as quiet as a sedan. You get the higher ride height most people seem to want. Acceleration is very quick with today's engines, be it V8 or turbo 6. Braking, handling, and ride quality is quite good. You can get a basic trim level or loaded with everything imaginable. These trucks are among the safest vehicles on the road. Fuel economy is 20+ on the highway. And on top of all this, you still get a pickup bed for hauling heavy / dirty / bulky items, and a 4x4 option (many with AWD) for use in bad weather or off-road. Also, a trailer hitch for hauling trailers that normally would have required an HD truck 15 years ago. Frankly, they are impressive vehicles. You can still buy a regular cab half ton with an 8-foot bed, but they are rare and you likely would need to special order. So few people want these that it only makes sense the automakers would gradually phase them out. We've already seen that with the smaller 'midsize trucks,' you can no longer purchase one with a regular cab. The half ton will be the next victim. Now, regular cabs in the HD trucks will survive because these are now the true work trucks. Half tons focus so much on ride comfort that they now have very little ground clearance and don't have a heavy duty front end.
I am fortunate enough to have three trucks - a 2005 (coil springs) F-350 crew cab long bed diesel dually, a 2003 (leaf springs) F-550 regular cab diesel, and a 2022 Jeep Gladiator crew cab 5-foot bed 'truck.' The Jeep is so much nicer to just hop into a commute in...quick, nimble, better on fuel, still has a useful bed for most items. The other trucks are for real work though.
