Ford Confirms US Compact Pickup, Hints Redesigned Ranger - autoevolution
After several months of rumors about Ford looking to develop a new compact pickup for the US market, the Blue Oval company has confirmed that Dearbon has room in its lineup for a smaller that F-150 truck. Speaking at a meeting with industry analysts and a handful of journalists, Ford’s truck program marketing manager Doug Scott said the automaker is planning a redesigned “true compact truck” that will be “clearly differentiated from the F-150 in... According to earlier speculations, Ford’s future compact truck could have a payload capacity of around 1,000 pounds and a towing capacity of about 3,000 pounds. The North-American Ford Ranger was retired in 2012 after it has grown to be too big and too expensive for a compact pickup truck market that has shrunk considerably last year. The only way Ford will succeed with a Ranger replacement is if it is designed better than a Toyota Tacoma, and if they can replicate the hype around Tacomas. Ford killed the Ranger off because no one was buying them, the truck was the same from 1996-2012 except for a few styling changes, and the 4. 0L motor was underpowered for its size and just wasted gas. Ford should focus its efforts on the F-150 with more engines choices and mate them to 6 speed transmissions or even 8 speed transmissions that Dodge has in their new Ram 1500. My 2013 F-150 XLT 4x4 5. 4L. Source: www.autoevolution.com
