Ford made a real mistake when it dropped the Ranger back in 2011. I guess Ford wanted everyone to buy F150s. But not everyone wanted, or needed, a large truck. Ford just walked away from that customer base.
For example, I’ve been looking at the smaller Pepsi Co. delivery trucks in my area. They are all older Rangers.
At any rate, I have read elsewhere that the new American Ranger will be larger than the old one. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the Ranger. I hope what I read is wrong.
Unless I’m mistaken, no one makes small pickups for the U.S. market anymore.
Ford also screwed up in turning the Explorer (which had inherited most of the Bronco’s enthusiast following) into a Taurus-based crossover. They already had the Freestyle/Taurus X and Flex filling that niche, but they went ahead and added the Explorer as well. Maybe they were compensating for the loss of Mercury, but it was idiotic.
“At any rate, I have read elsewhere that the new American Ranger will be larger than the old one. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the Ranger. I hope what I read is wrong.”
I’m sure it’ll be huge. Look at what GM did with the Colorado - That thing is bigger than my K1500. But then I marvel at the size of the Toyota Tundra too. My old Toyota Pickup could fit in the back.
They never kept up sales wise. The small trucks had almost no markup, half the rebate, so by the time you discounted the full-size trucks, prices were close, and the resale difference was huge. This, along with the negligible difference in fuel mileage is why they quit them.
They’ll sell well for about a year, then they will likely be dead.
The only thing the Ranger needed was more room in the cab! I have driven the Colorado and it has plenty of room for someone my size, six four and two fifty, the Ranger was built for people five eight or shorter. I work part time at a huge auto auction and old Ranger pickups bring amazingly high prices there.