This might be a practical use case for the people who would buy a small pickup, like I had for years with a 4-cyl stick-shift Ranger. In those years I drove tons of miles (gas savings was important), but rarely carried large cargo a long way (i.e. an EV truck loses lots of range carrying a lot of weight). Usually, my "cargo" was just lightweight dirty items like a weed trimmer and push mower -- the kind it'd be not worth getting a large truck and having bad gas mileage with.
But still don't get it as an only vehicle.
For many years I drove a Chevy Luv (Izusu) with a 1.8L and 4 speed. It was slow and only carried about 400lbs well. I put 10s of thousands of miles on it without a single problem.
Radio and heater was all it had.
Loved that truck.