The 2019 Ford Ranger Has A New Market
Daily Slideshow: With SUV sales skyrocketing, the market is different than when the Ford Ranger was last sold. Can the 2019 Ford Ranger keep relevant in the modern market?
Finding New Competition
The new 2019 Ford Ranger is out and ready to blow away customers. Ford's new mid-size truck has competitive specs and is ready to outsell the competition, but perhaps not the competition you are thinking of.
Photo: Ford
Open To Other Options
The Ranger has clear competitors: Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, even the Honda Ridgeline, but there is a different competition that Ford is heading after. The SUV market is massive and is not showing any signs of slowing. Accounting for over 50% of vehicle sales in the U.S., SUV’s and crossovers are clearly a market that has a massive customer base. The thing about SUV’s, however, is that the customers are not as brand specific or even segment specific as other customers. In my experience, SUV customers are more willing to cross-shop than any other customer.
Photo: Jakob Hansen
What Does This Mean To Ford?
This leaves over 1,000,000 annual customers out shopping for a new SUV or crossover. If Ford can tap into this market and take even 10% of sales, they will be sitting very comfortably. Fords best year with the Ranger was 1999, moving 348,358 Rangers. Average yearly sales were around 200,000. Matching this would already put them above what the Chevrolet Colorado has sold in the last three years, averaging 143,000/year. Include the customers cross-shopping SUV’s, they will have a great year.
Photo: Ford
“Rugged”
SUV’s are marketed as tough, rugged and capable vehicles, and indeed, some of them are! But let’s be honest here, we all know most are nowhere near as capable as they are advertised as and can barely handle a Detroit road. Though, to be fair, not many vehicles can handle Detroit's roads. The Ranger is an extremely capable midsize truck with enough room inside to haul you and your family comfortably. The cabin can easily compete with mid-size SUV’s interior space and the fuel economy is more than comparable. So what is the hold-up?
Photo: Jakob Hansen
What’s The Hold-Up?
The biggest problem I can see moving customers from SUV’s will be the bed. Many customers don’t want a storage space that is not connected to the cabin, and they need a vehicle to take their gear everywhere they go. However, there are easy ways around these problems and based on the eight Rangers they brought to the auto show, it is obvious Ford is trying hard to push the “adventure” side of the Ranger, and grasp at the appeal the SUV customers looking for something “tough”.
Photo: Jakob Hansen
So How Will They Do It?
Marketing and accessories. Ford’s marketing team has almost solely focused on adventure. However, nearly every press release has adventure in the title! They want the customers with families and weekend camping trips to know that their truck is just as good if not better than an SUV for “overlanding”.
Photo: Ford
Accessories Make People Happy
And what of the no trunk problem, you ask? Well, Ford made it very clear they have any type of accessory that you desire. Camping? No problem, rooftop tent. Kayak, yup, they got it covered. Oh, you need storage, no problem, endless storage compartments are available for purchase. Ford has an eight (8!) page PDF with their accessories listed out with part numbers included.
Photo: Jakob Hansen
Different Focus
Ford really wants (and needs) the Ranger to work for nearly every type of customer. They have foregone marketing to the standard truck market, presumably in hopes that the truck will sell itself based on its performance, and have focused their efforts on a new customer base that hasn't had much attention from the mid-size truck market. The other brands have focused attention here as well, but not nearly on the level that Ford is pushing their “adventure readiness”.
Photo: Jakob Hansen
Ford Knows What They Have
Ford knows they will get the fleet customers, they know they will get the customers that want a better truck than a Colorado, they know they will get their guys that need a truck occasionally for work or hobbies but don’t need a full-size F-150. What they don't know is if they can pull in the families and the SUV crowd that has such a large market right now. The "rugged SUV" is the thing to have right now. Hell, a RAV4 looks tougher than a 4Runner. Ford has a vehicle with the right capabilities but needs to convince the "non-truck" people to commit. We will have to wait and see if the marketing pays off.
Photo: Jakob Hansen
For help with service on your truck, check out the how to section of Ford-Trucks.com.