5 Car Brands With Plans To Bring Back The Mid-Gate Pickup

It’s hard to understate the importance of the pickup truck in America as both an economic and cultural force. Going all the way back to the dawn of American motoring and maybe even more so in the modern era, the pickup truck symbolizes the American spirit of both work and play. A pickup’s tailgate in particular has become a symbol of American truck culture — so much so that the word “tailgate” can also be used as a verb to describe the act of partying around the back of your vehicle. 

The familiar tailgate at the rear of a pickup bed isn’t the only cargo door trucks have used, though. Back in the 2000s, the midgate became a bit of a trend in the pickup market, appearing on a few different models, including the Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT, as well as the short-lived Subaru Baja. What exactly is a midgate? It’s basically a door between a truck’s cab and its cargo bed that opens to extend bed length and add carrying capacity. 

For a while, the midgate was seen as a bit of forgotten truck novelty, but the idea hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s currently undergoing a bit of a resurgence. Not only can you find midgates on certain new production trucks, but several brands appear to be considering midgates for their future trucks. Below are five of them to look out for. 

Back in the early 2000s, General Motors was a pioneer of the midgate on the Chevy Avalanche pickup, so it’s fitting that GM would be leading the charge to revive the midgate in the 2020s. GM currently sells two pickup trucks with available midgates — the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV. While other brands have hinted at bringing them back, GM is the only company out there building trucks with midgates right now.

Yes, the Silverado EV might be a pricey pickup, but its midgate is a cool touch regardless of its powertrain. So far, the addition of the midgate to these trucks has been well received, and not just because of the extra cargo capacity they offer. For example, those who want to use their Silverado or Sierra EV for outdoor adventures can buy aftermarket midgate-compatible bed toppers that can convert the truck’s cab and bed into a spacious camping area.

While the Silverado and Sierra EVs are still available as of mid-2026, General Motors, like other automakers, is navigating rough waters regarding its future EV plans. There have been mixed signals about the company’s commitment to future electric truck models, but if this midgate revival has been successful, it’s possible we could see the feature coming to gas-powered GM trucks.

While Nissan isn’t known for offering midgates on its production pickups, the company actually experimented with a midgate design on its SUT pickup truck concept way back in 1999. That concept feature never made it to production, but patent filings show the brand has been experimenting with several midgate ideas. 

One of the patents involves a complete overland system for the Frontier that includes a removable soft top, a bed cap with removable panels, and, most notably, a removable pass-through between the cab and bed. Given the modifications needed to alter the bed and cab in such a way, this would likely need to be a dedicated production version of the Frontier rather than an add-on accessory kit. We had decidedly mixed feelings about the 2025 Nissan Frontier, but having a removable top and midgate would radically change the vibe of this mid-sized pickup.

Nissan has also filed patents for other midgates, including one that would include rear-facing seats in the bed like on the old Subaru BRAT. Rather than the current Frontier, the patent illustrations suggest this feature could be used on a new compact truck model that Nissan has been rumored to be developing for a while. However, we could also see a midgate of some sort on one of Nissan’s next-gen body-on-frame models.

Hyundai has not been a major player in the pickup truck market. The brand’s only real pickup offering is the stylish and compact Hyundai Santa Cruz, which is reportedly scheduled to be phased out at the end of 2026. With its unibody, car-based construction, the Santa Cruz is a unique offering in the pickup market — but a midgate is not on its options list. 

However, recent patents suggest that Hyundai is considering a midgate option for future pickup models. Simply adding a midgate would be a fairly big deal on its own, but Hyundai’s patent actually shows an improved midgate design which includes a drainage system to keep water away from the cab. This makes sense, as one of a midgate’s downsides is that it exposes the truck’s interior to the elements when it’s opened. 

It is unclear which Hyundai pickup would have this midgate, if it were ever to enter production. If Hyundai discontinues the Santa Cruz, that would mean the midgate may end up featuring on the brand’s body-on-frame midsize truck, which it plans to debut before 2030. Hyundai faces stiff competition from established pickups in this competitive segment, and adding a midgate could be a good way to set its new truck apart when it arrives later in the decade.

A new midgate isn’t likely something an automaker will talk about publicly without a coinciding vehicle launch, so a lot of the information out there comes from patents that carmakers have filed. One of these patents was filed by Ford in 2024, showing a relatively simple midgate design on a pickup that clearly resembles a Ford Maverick. 

The affordable and fuel-efficient Maverick has been a huge hit for Ford, but there’s no escaping the reality that its cargo bed is fairly small. The addition of a midgate to the Maverick would allow the truck to carry much larger items while retaining its small footprint, making an already versatile pickup truck even more versatile. 

The patent is now over two years old, and so far, a midgate option hasn’t appeared on the current Maverick. That said, the Maverick is likely nearing the end of its current generation, having been on sale for five model years now, so it’s possible that a midgate could arrive on the next-generation Maverick — or perhaps even on something else, like the small EV pickup truck that Ford is aiming to launch for 2027. 

The brands on this list were chosen based on current production trucks, concept vehicles, and recent patent filings for midgate designs. It’s important to remember that just because a patent has been filed does not mean that the design is confirmed — or even likely — to reach production. Often, these ideas never get beyond the patent stage. However, given the volume of midgate-related patents filed by automakers in recent years, these can at least be taken as a sign of a possible midgate revival across the American truck market.