Could the Next Ford Ranger Be… Unibody?! *GASP*
Midsize trucks these days are pretty darn big. In many cases, they’re as big as the full-sized trucks of not that long ago. But what if Ford wanted to make a proper small truck? Could a unibody construction be the way?
Some of you may have noticed some of the Jeep Moab concepts that debuted yesterday. One of those, the Comanche, is a small pickup truck built on a unibody Jeep Renegade platform. It’s a cute little scamp that a lot of people seemed to really like.
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA (who makes Jeep and Ram Trucks) has stated recently that he’d like to see a small Ram truck, but hasn’t decided if that’ll be a unibody or body-on-frame pickup.
To make a small truck viable, Ram wants a truck that hits four major points;
- Price
- Capability
- Fuel Economy
- Size
To hit many of those targets, especially when they offer a pretty fuel efficient half-ton pickup truck, Ram could go unibody.
Presumably Ford is under the same pressures. The next-generation US-spec Ranger needs to offer more (or less) than what the F-150 offers, otherwise why would someone go with it? Would you buy a Ranger if it didn’t get better fuel economy than the F-150? Would you buy a Ranger if it was close to the same starting price of the F-150?
While it’s very unlikely that Ford would ditch the body-on-frame setup, it is something to think about on this Friday afternoon. Would a unibody small truck be a bad thing? Honda has been doing it for years with the Ridgeline.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments or over in the forums!
