North America finally gets a version of the global midsize pickup, designed specifically for U.S. tastes
Finally. It has been seven years since the last Ford Ranger rolled off the line at the Twin Cities plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. Seven years of Ford insisting there was no market for a compact pickup in the U.S. when there was an F-150 full-size truck for every need and pocketbook. Seven years of Ranger fans clamoring for its North American return while it continued to be a sales success in the rest of the world. Seven years of General Motors and Toyota increasing sales and share of the midsize pickup segment.
Enough. Today Ford uses the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to unveil the 2019 Ranger that will go into production later this year, for sale in early 2019. It stems from the global Ranger sold and built elsewhere, but it is re-envisioned for this market with a more aggressive look and kinship to the F-150. Designed and engineered in Australia for the U.S., it relies on North American parts and will be built in the retooled Michigan Assembly Plant.
What has changed? The midsize pickup segment has seen sales increase 83 percent since 2014—when Ford decided to bring the truck back—with 452,000 sold in 2017. “We see an opportunity that didn’t exist five years ago,” said Todd Eckert, Ford truck group marketing manager.
A decade ago, in the thick of the recession, the F-150 range continued to expand, and the price gap between it and the Ranger continued to shrink. The F-150 was the moneymaker and got the resources while the Ranger went largely unchanged. Sales continued to fall until the business decision was made to discontinue it after the 2011 model year and redirect customers to the base F-150 or an SUV.
Ford now sees the Ranger buyer as different from the F-150 buyer. The Ranger owner is an urban dweller who drives his truck to work—not for work—and uses it to play on the weekend with his toys in the bed in back. It is not about affordability but more about size, scale, and fuel efficiency, says Eckert. Nor is it about chasing the competition. Expect former Ranger owners, new customers, and even F-150 owners who want to downsize gravitate to a truck that is easier to drive, park, and fit in the garage.
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