Ford Products Timeline

[blksn8k2]

Huge difference between the old ranger in the old market and the new ranger in the current market. Killing the old one was the right move at the time and under the circumstances. Bringing the new one with Bronco and other platform mates is the right move now.

 

I was never on the old Ranger bandwagon after about 2004. The 2nd gen truck was never seriously updated over its eighteen year lifespan. That's why I bought a Sport Trac in 2007 and lobbied for the T6 after 2011. In other words, like jpd80 inferred, the T6 should have been the direct replacement in 2012 and probably several years before that.

[jpd80]

 

Right...and I suppose that's also why people with a different opinion were referred to as "the Ranger mafia".

 

But hey, you'll never hear me say "I told you so".

And I'm from the country that developed the Ranger, how do you think I felt when Mulally nixed the idea.

Ranger really only came back into Focus for Ford in the last two years, before that they weren't interested.

and rightly so because F Series and the Utilities and Fusion were all strong.

 

The issue was that the US wasn't in at kick off for the project so their wants and needs weren't covered by

that product cycle. The second evolution offers an opportunity to do that - much like when EUCD became CD4.

 

Ranger was nice to have product but definitely not essential at the time Ford bowed out of the project (2006)

and if anything, not keeping Expedition and Navigator fresh and selling strongly was an even bigger tragedy

 

One more thing, in the absence of a mid sized truck, Ford sold as many full sized trucks and Utilities as its plants

could make. During that time, the price of F150 increased enough to create a nice niche below it and something

that GM capitalized on in the past two years. The market is now ripe for a Ranger with prices starting in the early

to mid 20K zone - and that's just what Ford wants.

Edited September 10, 2017 by jpd80