Ford Ranger Wildtrak

[StanM]

I did a recent Google search on the "Ford Ranger Wildtrak" and found a very nice looking truck that, in my opinion, should sell well here. The question is why is the USA left with a worn out design that's been left to die? Isn't America where Ford was founded? Why doesn't Ford make it's new products available here first? Instead, we get leftovers.

[jonas1022]

Sorry Stan, Looks the same as our Ranger. Same wheelbase IMHO. Ford decided a long time ago to do the Sport Trac vs. crew cab Ranger.

 

Just has four doors on the cab. It won't replace the Sport Trac. Too small, and Ford has probably figured out that the public is buying fewer Rangers at lower prices (figureing in inflation) than before. Add to that the Sport Trac is selling OK, why kill that? It has enough competition, why put another on the showroom floor with a vehicle that has a better markup/profit margin? And North American like BIG

 

BTW, the four door S-10 was a dog, I'm sure this truck your looking at is as well.

[retro-man]

I'm with Stan on this one. The 4-door Ranger should have been put on this market - oh, about 25 YEARS AGO!!!!. But nooooo! Instead we get the Tupperware-clad, micro-bed, fooferawed, metro-sexual, "I think I might wanna be a truck, but I'm not too sure", Sport Trac which, evidently, many people mistake for an actual truck.

 

Ok, I might be exaggerating about the Sport Trac's shortcomings vis a vis the Ranger, but if I had a truck (which I used to), I'd kinda like it to look like a truck. See, I have this funny notion that the rest of the world - where they sell the Ranger 4-door - is, in places, rougher and less civilized than our country which is, by and large, turned into one continuous shopping mall. I have this notion that Thailand, where they have muddy, unpaved roads through vast areas of tropical jungle, Peru, where they have rocky unpaved passes through high mountains, South Africa, where they have vast expanses of unpaved veldt, might constitute more of a proving ground for what is really a truck than, say, the Mall of America parking lot. I know this isn't Thailand or Peru or South Africa, yet .... somehow.... .... does everything on our market have to be so banal?

Edited December 2, 2007 by retro-man

[StanM]

I'm with Stan on this one. The 4-door Ranger should have been put on this market - oh, about 25 YEARS AGO!!!!. But nooooo! Instead we get the Tupperware-clad, micro-bed, fooferawed, metro-sexual, "I think I might wanna be a truck, but I'm not too sure", Sport Trac which, evidently, many people mistake for an actual truck.

 

I can't help but think Ford is intentionally strangling the Ranger in order to promote the F150 in order to help maintain the "F" series' status as the best selling PU. The dealers in my area may have 8 to 10 Rangers, or less, in stock, mostly all 2wd XL or XLT with minimal equipment. When I bought my last Ranger in 2002, the dealer had well over 80 in stock, most of which were 4wd XLT's.

[ptschett]

I did a recent Google search on the "Ford Ranger Wildtrak" and found a very nice looking truck that, in my opinion, should sell well here. The question is why is the USA left with a worn out design that's been left to die? Isn't America where Ford was founded? Why doesn't Ford make it's new products available here first? Instead, we get leftovers.

 

Complain to your congressman and senators... this pickup is built in Thailand so it would suffer a 25% tariff to be sold here (without Ford setting up a new plant for it in a NAFTA country.)

[jonas1022]

Complain to your congressman and senators... this pickup is built in Thailand so it would suffer a 25% tariff to be sold here (without Ford setting up a new plant for it in a NAFTA country.)

Just a thought and nothing more. When Ford introduced the Courier pickup that was Mazda built. The truck was shipped incomplete. It did not have a bed, or interior as I recall. There were interior kits shipped in from abroad for each truck. And some beds made and installed locally. You could always tell which had the American made beds as the paint job was of lower quality, and faded more quickly.

 

This isn't the point however. What is my point, is that this same proceedure could be done again except for one very glaring problem. IMHO, the dollar isn't worth spit. So, you are not going to get the foriegn built whatever. You will get one built in St. Louis (?), and it'll probably be called the F-100 despite protests from the Ford marketing dept. It would be an F series pickup from Ford. And that means that they would get to count it as a F series sale. Padding the numbers. Nothing more, nothing less. :shades:

Edited December 19, 2007 by jonas1022