Do we know what the next major changed to the platform will be....engines . 4x4 options...ANYTHING

 

The US Ranger has been killed. We won't be getting a new one unless it comes back in a few years totally redesigned.

The global Ranger will continue to be produced, but the US won't get it

 

dunno....ive heard about the Global Ranger alot and even seen pictures of people posting their sighting on this site...and all this B.S. about the coming back of the F100 and the Bronco is a dream IMO...the f100 would be a mid-sized...well...look how that worked..ranger is dying and the explorer sport trac is..well...look...and nobody wants 4x4 SUVs anymore for some reason......

IMO again...ford is just messing up with these new things...and if they ditch the ranger...then they truly are becoming lost...

 

It was already announced long ago that the US Ranger is dead.

 

I’ve not done any reading on the matter other than an occasional line or two here regarding the planned drop, but I have to wonder why? Seems to me that the Ranger has to be somewhere at the top of the sales list for small chassis trucks. It’s long been known that the folks in Toyota have been able to outpace the Big 3 combined when it comes to profitability, but the F150 and Rangers have long been competitive in their respective markets and benchmarked for their quality. With that said, I think I will do some reading on the subject. It seems to me that Ford not having a domestic small chassis truck is handing sales away to Toyota and GM. Unless the Rangers are being sold for a loss, it doesn’t make sense to me either. Under Jaque Nasser many years ago, an irrational decision like this would make sense, but the current leadership has done a better job of getting things right, IMO.

 

A quick search yielded these two items.
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http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/100920-Ford-Cancels-Sale-of-Ranger-in-U-S-/
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http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/rankings/Compact-Pickup-Trucks/
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Essentially, Ford is claiming that Ranger sales will only cannibalize F150 sales. Also, the Ranger slipped to #7 in this articles investigation. I was surprised to see that there was a Dodge and a Suzuki ahead of the Ranger. The GMC/Chevy offerings were also a bit of a surprise. I worked in the automotive sector for several years, and Ford was by far the most Quality advanced of the Big 3. The fact that they did much better when the others were taking Federal handouts was a clear indicator to me that their Quality was better as was their decision making.
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My opinion: Ford doesn’t feel that they can compete in this class of vehicle. It shouldn’t be hard for them to compete in an area that they helped establish. Toyota would be hard to remove from the top spot, but the distances between #2-#7 are probably less significant and are on the flatter part of the curve. Concern over cannibalization of F150 sales is smoke and mirrors and smacks of bad leadership and a bad plan to be competitive. A case study in history showed that the folks at GM created the first concept minivan, only they didn’t bring it to market because it would cannibalize station wagon sales. Enter Chrysler’s Grand Caravan and the rest is history. I hope Ford isn’t screwing up.

 

Most of this has to do with the fact that the factory where the ranger was being made was to be closed down. Ford had no simple options for moving the production, and according to the statistics, many of the sales the Ranger had was as a result of its low starting price, not because it was a truck. Once Ford released the Fiesta, which is cheaper still, the Ranger sales slumped further.

 

Most folks like me don't need, or want the F-150, way too big, expensive to buy & operate. Same for a midsize truck. Don't need, want, or like the Sport Track, the bed is WAY too short for my needs. I don't need or want 4X4 either

For my needs the 4X2 Ranger 4.0L pushrod engine, 5spd auto with a traction lock differential is a perfect fit, it was made to order, I haven't changed a thing, it's still stock & it's doing it's thing towing my Bass Tracker over the Blue Ridge Mtns, light hauling, ect, just fine & still yields 17+ mpg towing & 24.7 mpg highway crusing between 55-70.

Ford has the most fuel efficient small pickup on the road in the 4banger, but seems to lack enough vision to properly promote it & other models & for some short sighted reason refuse to update, or tweak the Rangers design a little. Like improving mpg across the line, or offering a more fuel efficient 4.0L, or a small Diesel, ect.

The way the economy is going & the future looks, a small pickup with the guts to do some serious trucking, last a long time & get good mpg doing it & not cost too much, should be just the ticket.
So here sits Ford with just the thing to fill the bill with the Ranger in all of it's models & equipt choices & it's short sighted upper managment is all focused to kill it????!!!! Industrial strength DUMB & lacking in managment & marketing skills!!!!!

My Ranger rant for the day!!!!! lol

 

It would be nice if Ford pulled a few pages from its early 80's playbook and offer a diesel in the Ranger again.

 

The diesel is still offered in their global version.

 

I know, i'm referring to the U.S. market.

 

Yes, it would be great if the Ranger was offered in the US market with the 2.5L or 3.0L I-4 Diesels that are available elswhere. For that matter, the Fiesta and Focus diesels would also be a nice addition to the US market.......
If you really want to see injustice, check out Ford's India lineup. I don't think there's a single petrol engine offered there......

 

Ford needs the leadership of a visionary like Donald Peterson was to them in the 1980s. The aim of any business is to provide customers with useful products. Of course, there needs to be products at various price points, wider offerings with flexibility in options available. This is why Toyota is smoking the Big 3 in combined profitability– 3 decades plus of providing what the customer wants at the price they want it! I hear what you are saying Khan, and if you are right which I can believe you are, it’s a lame solution to providing a product portfolio that suits your home market and a large market segment at that. As noted by Montana and PawPaw, configurability is the key in the 21<SUP>st</SUP> Century. The leaders at Ford need to be figuring out how they can remain competitive in a marketplace. What will be their plan once the F150 market moves toward the Tundra? Eliminate that offering and say it was gleening sales from the F250s? More excuses? Probably.

 

See, I would consider even a Unibody replacement to the Ranger, they are light duty enough that the unibody would work fine. If they did that, it could share the Flex/Explorer chassis. I for one have little use for an F-150 no matter how good its fuel economy is. I need smaller and lighter.

 

Ford has/had a FWD unibody little "truck" based on the escort/focus chassis that was sold in Mexico. They called it a Courier, like the 70's/80's Mazda trucks that were rebadged as Ford.
My brother, a trucker, frequently hauled loads to a border crossing station down in Texas (advance/o'rielly/autozone reman parts), and one of the guys who worked on the Mexican side drove one of those. He sent me some pics, but that phone died. If I could get them off it, I'd post them here. Cute little thing. Just 2 seats and a small cargo bed, but it had all the elements of a small pickup.