...apparently the Ranger's done:
\http://www.autoblog.com/2007/11/20/its-apparently-official-the-ford-ranger-is-dead-come-2009/
wow
That's depressing.
:screwy: How can they drop their only light truck?
Well I can see it.
Any more the Rangers are big trucks. MUCH bigger than the Gen 1/2's used to be. While bigger than before, they are still considered "small" by full-size standards. They don't offer the power or capacity of the full-sized trucks and they really don't get any better gas mileage....so what's the point? If you want a "light" truck, get a V6 F150.
The light truck market is going to go the way of the Ridgeline most likely, a uni-body platform. They can be made lighter and "cuter" for the trendy crowd and still offer similar performance.
The Ute would be a good fill-in in that slot.....
Figures...s.
Ford seriously needs to pull their head out of their collective asses.
And fast.
I'm not so much into the economics arena...but it would make sense to me to drop other products that made even less of a profit.
Crown Vic's for instance.
Surely as hell, Ranger trucks sell more than a 20 year old platform that is underpowered and only available to police fleets..?
:flame:
You mean the one that still shares the frame and brakes with the 82 model? It's about time!!!
Where's their Tacoma/Frontier fighter? It sure as hell wasn't the underpowered, outdated, POS Ranger.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=123602?tid=edmunds.il.home.photopanel..3.*
They're too late to try that without looking like a copycat now. Johnny-come-lately as usual.
your 100% correct in my opionion. It used to be small and good on gas affordable, now all small light trucks have gotten big, theres no point in buying something like that when you can take a small step up.
Also I would LOVE to see that Ute come over and take its spot. That i think would take on HUGELY over here!
Heeeeey... I worked on that Twin Cities Assembly Plant closure project... I mean... what!?!? :D
I'm actually surprised they are closing (and selling off) that plant entirely... It has it's own friggin hydroelectric power running off the Mississip. But whatever. :rolleyes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Cities_Assembly_Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_Forward
Maybe they will use some of that money to make some snazzy new cars... maybe not.
I'd love to see the Falcon-based ute come here, but this is Ford we're talking about. A ute would be too interesting.
As for the Ranger - I'm thinking that in this day of higher gas prices, calls for higher fuel economy standards, and slackening demand for large pickups, Ford is canceling the Ranger at exactly the wrong time. The fundamentals that brought about the Ranger in 1982 are falling back in place again.
Mike - the Ranger is outdated only because Ford let it happen. Ironically, the fact that Ford neglected the Ranger for so long has now provided it with one of its best (if not only) selling points (and it does still sell well): It's still small. If Ford would only update the body and drivetrains the little truck could stage a huge comeback. Give it a 2.4-ish version of the Zetec generating 175-200 horses for the base engine and a 3.5 or 3.7 Duratec delivering 260-280 horses as the top dog. Resist the urge to make it bigger and heavier. The other "compact" trucks have become unpopular because they've blurred the lines between large and small - hell, the Frontier and Titan are based on the same frickin' platform!
Sadly I think Chuck's right, though - small trucks will all become Ridgeline-esque car-based "trucks" offering all of the poor fuel economy of a full size truck with none of the utility.
Good thing GM is bringing a Holden Ute over as a variant of the Pontiac G8 :D [I'm too lazy to find the source, but I'm pretty sure it was on Jalopnik at one point]
EDIT: Did a 20 second search and found it: http://jalopnik.com/cars/industry-news/there-is-a-god-automotive-news-reports-pontiac-to-get-g8-ute-wagon-324251.php Now I'm not so lazy :)
sure would be nice if someone, anyone would make an "actual" small truck again
too bad about the ranger though since people are going to lose thier jobs over this
I've read this thread a time or 3 now...
I notice that A. people in general want a small 4wd suv/small truck because it's well...4wd and small, yet, they want it to have 4,000 watt stereos, and handle like a wet dream.
I learned to drive in a Jeep nearly as old as I am...manual brakes? f'ckin hell no.
My point is this...because of Ford's complacency with what the market wants versus what Ford wants, well, we're on the losing side.
Taurus (somewhat), Tbird/Cougar, Ranger, and several others.
I know that the Rangers was outdated..but to me...reliability and simplicity far outweight the basically shiznit styling of this new crop of..."trucks".
Part of the reason I'll keep dumping money into my '92 F-150.
Cause it's been dead nuts reliable. That I think it's better looking than trucks half it's age is only secondary.
I predict that someday soon...Ford will be a division of Toyota.
Hopefully their aftermarket will be nice to us...
Uh Ford did drop the Crown Vic from the civilian market. To get one now you have to be a cop or a taxi driver. The only RWD full frame cars you can get from Ford now are the Grand Marq and the Town Car.
As for the small truck thing. I hardly ever see small trucks by me. The only trucks I see are the big full size ones. The only places that have the small trucks are the parts stores like NAPA and Advance Auto Parts.
Yup, the auto companies dont make money off of people buying used cars, and thats all Ill ever buy. Nobody makes anything appealing to me now.
Bring back the Ford Courier!!!!
Heck, at $4.00 a gallon, those auto parts companies driving the little trucks will be the only ones on the road, lol.
Bring Back the Ranchero!!
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/535000-535999/535969_50.jpg)
/gasp!!
How about a five second search in this very thread? :hick:
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showpost.php?p=189789&postcount=8
The same can be said for the entire light truck market. When the Dakota got obese, the buying public went nuts for it. GM and Ford followed suit, and now true light trucks are non-existant.
The Panther is dead. Not even for fleets anymore. They are the new Caprice Dodo, and it's about time we got rid of these 30 year old fossils. They are the oldest platform being used in North America. There were plans to replace it with the Falcon chassis, but that has been backed out of. The Taurus/Sable is now considered internal competition for the car, and they only sold roughly 1000 Panther cars in all of last year. Let it die.
I do still like the Rangers, but it's not like I can afford a new one.
All the "small" trucks are big now...I think it started with everyone wanting a V8 in their "compact" trucks and snowballed from there.
I just want to know what will be replacing it.
Never know guys this might just work out like the FWD mustang"aka probe" It all sounds good and looks to make sense but they are never gonna know until they drop the hammer or do some market research.
Everyone can talk "outdated" and complain that it hasn't been changed significantly in 26 years but, it is the only small truck left. Any car company makes decisions strickly on money. This is why I still have my 92 Ranger. Everyone else has gone big.
The Ranger does what it's designed to do. I have not need for a big truck. But per the sales figures it doesn't make sense for Ford to keep the plant and continue building a vehicle with continuing declining sales.
Which brings up the point of the killing of the most successfull Fords ever built besides the T. Fox platform everything and the 83-88 Tbirds and Cougars. Highly successful but few people will buy two door cars anymore. Toyota and Nissan and their primium brands can afford to sell two doors in low volume. Ford cannot.
However, I did hear that Ford may redo the Ranger completely, make it bigger but not as big as the F-150 and sell it as a F-100. Just another small truck converted to a bigger truck. But Ford will probably be first for small diesels in light trucks. Less than 5 liter and possibly a V6. We'll all have to wait and see.
Actually that is the link that made me find the Jalopnik one...I saw 2007 Holden VE Utility and never scrolled down to read the article talking about bringing it over. I guess that is what I get for assuming and not reading. Now I feel dumb, lol. :punchballs:
Move along, nothing more to see here. :dunce:
Hey, it happens to the Bestaphus! ;)
I was hoping to see a diesel ranger in the near future. That would be a hit IMO. Oh well, I can see ford dissolving in the next 10 years.
I usually try to avoid the doom and gloom, but I can't argue with you, since they put the entire company and its' assets up as collateral for their big loan two years ago. Since then I've seen............... nothing that will even start the turnaround that they need to get the company off the dinner table. In fact, recent news looks like they're systematically shutting the company down on their own. Closing the Cleveland plant says a lot, in that regard.
Yes, the simple "Just build a car that people will buy" formula seems to be lost on Ford. No decent new products at the dealerships, and nothing compelling in the pipeline. GM seems to be finally getting it right, though...
New GM's for 2008:
1 - Pontiac G8: A HUGE potential here, this car will be the biggest story of the next few years. It brings the traditionally European 4-door RWD sport sedan back to the US (via the land of OZ). Add in LS V8 power (355HP just in the base "GT" model, what's the GXP going to have? 430?) and soon a 6-speed manual (not that the sport-shift auto is bad, far from it!). Charger sales (which are already tanking) will dry up and this car will take a big chunk from Lexus, BMW, and Infiniti. Pontiac is going to be GM's BMW.
2 - Cadillac CTS: Looks AMAZING in person! And the V is slated to get the 650HP LS9 Supercharged motor. Caddy has surpassed BMW and is headed right for Benz.
3 - New trucks: Granted, they've been out for a few months now, but they're still 08's. And say what you want, they are destroying the sales charts. The fact that GM not only has the gall to release a bunch of Sierra vs Tundra literature is shocking enough, but the facts in it are all true and the sales and reliability ratings are showing it!
We can keep going on and on. The new Malibu is shockingly good and moving up a class to fight off the Camry opens up the Impala to be RWD again (see the G8 above). It's trouncing the Camry/Accord in every test so far. Or how about the upcoming 650HP LS9 powered ZR1 Vette? GM just purposefully leaked the engine details this week.
Heck, look at what they've released in the last year! Saturn has an all-new lineup (Sky roadster and Aura sedan are having stellar sales), the Pontiac Solstice is getting huge press, the 430HP LS3 Vette is selling like wildfire, etc, etc. I don't even need to start on how successful the Z06 has been.
So, what's the point? GM's turn-around program is working. They're releasing GOOD cars that people WANT. It's exciting to go to a GM dealer again!
What does that have to do with Ford? Well, everything. Ford is dying. They've released exactly 1 good new car in the last year (Fusion). Where's the beef? Seriously, is Ford making anything that really gets you exited anymore? The "new" Mustang is already on it's 4th model year with no changes beyond colors. The F150 restyle got pushed back and turned into a "re-grill" that's going to flop. The "Taurus" (500) is a good car that gets NO press and NO advertising. The "new" Focus is being bashed round-the-world as it deserves. The Crown Vic is dead with no replacement. The Thunderbird is dead (again). The Lincoln LS is dead. The Cougar is dead (that little FWD was admittedly good). Now the Ranger is dead.
Mulally was hired for one reason. To close and sell of the company. It saddens me, but I truly believe it.
*Off topic*
Wow another fox owner that feels the same as me i like my 99 just as much as my 87, cant wait to get the 87 back on the road tho.
Again, I know I'm replying to a very old thread, but I had to comment being that I bought an 2008 Ford Ranger XLT new, which I still have.
I had people asking me why I didn't get a low-end F-150. The Ranger is smaller than even the low-end F-150. I didn't want higher insurance, bigger tires and room I didn't need (I have a single cab Ranger and it's all I need). I simply don't buy more than I need, because you'll pay for it in different ways down the line. Admittedly, I don't haul much in the Ranger. It's a simple, yet dependable truck. I'll say this, gas mileage isn't good in it and probably gets the same as a F-150. That was one of the determining factors in not buying a Ford (along with Ford killing Mercury) when I bought my 2013 Honda Accord.
Even if Ford brings back the Ranger or some variant of a light truck, it won't be as dependable as the Ranger. I personally believe the last good Ford's/Mercury's/Lincoln's were the Ranger, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis and Town Car. Going back to the 90s, the last good-looking, dependable Mercury were hands-down the 89-97 Cougars. That's where the Cougar line should have ended, but instead, the Cougar ended with that abomination on wheels. Horrible, horrible design. To say I hate the last generation of Cougar's is a serious understatement.
Since we are here
http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2014/10/ford-may-return-to-small-pickup-market/
I see no problems with the ranger... I can put 4x8 sheets of plywood or drywall in my xlt, and I get almost 30mpg with a work cap with ladder racks.... just wish it was 4wd
I as surprised they threw a 4.6 in the ranger as i was when they killed it.
The real problem is a truck is more of a luxury suv anymore then a truck. When was the last time you went to the hardware store and saw a truck with a banged up bed?