There are many people with trucks who don't need a truck, I think that's the main point of the article, the wastefulness of it. They could do without the hyperbole though ... 7,000 isn't 3 Honda Civics these days, that would be 2 and a bit. A Civic hasn't been sub 2,500 lbs. for a very long time.
And an F150 is nowhere near 7000 pounds. The heaviest F150 is about 4500 pounds. Maybe an F350 with the crew cab and 8 foot box and a mortar mixer in the box at that is 7000 pounds, but nobody buys an F350 unless you've got a work crew to fill it. In fact, the dealers don't even stock them.
There's a pile of bullshit in that article. The engines available in the Ford half ton pickup truck lineup are no different than the engines available on the entire Ford lineup. You can get a 3.5 litre eco boost on a F150 or an explorer, or a Mustang, etc etc. They all throw the same amount of pollution regardless of what vehicle they are in. Gee is not too swift I can see.
This article is just riddled with mistakes and hyperbole.
Marcus Gee is the king of fluff pieces at the Globe and Mail. He used to cover the City of Toronto political scene when Rob Ford was mayor, but since Tory took over, its been back to boring at the City so old Marcus hasn't had a lot to do. Andrew Coyne he is not.