5 Car Brands Modeling Their Trucks After Ford
Here are five car brands that are modeling their trucks after Ford.
1. Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz shocked the world when they unveiled their first ever pickup truck at the Paris Auto Show — the X-Class. They aren't alone in deciding to sell a mid-size pickup, of course, with the similarly sized Ford Ranger making its return to North America soon. And if you squint hard enough, you can see a lot of Ford styling cues in the Mercedes, which should make for an interesting future comparison test.
2. Renault
French automaker Renault is throwing its hat into the midsize truck ring as well with the forthcoming Alaskan. Renault will initially sell the truck in Latin America before (possibly) bringing it to Europe. But as Mercedes has already openly acknowledged (and Ford already knows), the once truck averse Euro market has really changed its tune, with more and more folks looking to buy trucks.
3. Volkswagen
Volkswagen was a bit of a pioneer in the European truck market, having offering the Amarok since 2010. Of course, Ford has been selling the Ranger there for much, much longer, and it has a strong hold on the market. In fact, the Ranger is currently the best selling truck in Europe, even though those sales represent a small portion of the automaker's total sales.
4. Fiat
Fiat is best known for their tiny, cute cars that have only recently hit American soil. But the success of both the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux have inspired it to build its first pickup — the Toro. Fiat designed the Toro to stand apart from its tough competition, literally, by making it look like nothing else on the road.
5. Jianghuai Auto Corporation
Chinese automakers are known for mimicking cars built by American automakers, but JAC's 4R3 easily takes the cake as a blatant ripoff of the F-150. The front and rear of the truck look almost like a carbon copy of Ford's best selling pickup, but the engine choice, a 2.8-liter turbodiesel four cylinder producing 108 hp, clearly isn't. Thankfully, JAC was blocked from producing the 4R3 back in 2012.
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