25% tariff on non-American built trucks. Retool the current plant that builds Rangers, build them here. Keeps more Jobs here in the USA, eliminates the tariff issue, and keeps the plant from getting moth-balled. Besides, most import branded trucks sold in the USA are built here already, to get around that 25% fee.
If offering this truck here were to cut into sales of the F150 by even 10%, what real difference would it make? Ford would still be making a sale, therefore getting the profit. Beats the heck out of their current plan, let the rest of the automakers get 100% of the small truck market share.......
The upside to offering this truck here, is the higher MPG numbers (particularly with the diesel engines) would mean less burden on the current oil supplies, plus a higher CAFE for the company as a whole.
The sales of Rangers started to decline when the cost of buying one capable of handling a decent payload starting getting very close to equaling the cost of buying an F150. MPG was also rather close, so the cost to drive per mile wasn't much different either.
The F150 having an option for rear doors and seats that weren't totally a joke like those offered in a Ranger didn't hurt either. The Ranger is one of the few small trucks never offered here with a "Double cab" option. Instead, that option was called Explorer SporTrac.

I don't even want to start in on the (stupid) saftey/emission regulations mentioned in the article......... I figure a Euro 5 Star rating is pretty impressive, and the Euro emission standards are strict enough. A world-wide standard should be adopted. If a vehicle is safe for Europe, Asia, or Austrailia, it should be safe for the USA.
Of course, to meet Euro emission standards, our fuel supply would need to be cleaned up. On European diesel, that diesel engine would more than likely meet USA standards, but it cannot on USA diesel. Our diesel is just way too filthy.
Europe may have some pretty silly regulations, but they are enjoying the benefits of having numerous vehicle options that get better than 50 MPG, a figure the US automakers claim is years away from being attainable........