The Ranger is Dead – Long Live the Ranger (www.autosavant.net)

[BORG]

And, of course, the difference this time around is you don't know how small and cheap the F100 is going to be.

 

:P

 

Are you forgetting that you said the Ranger is competing in a shrinking segment and Ford would be unwise to invest in market with little to no guaranteed return? So why would your tune change now that Ford MAY have 2 sub-F150 products planned?

Edited April 17, 2008 by BORG

[jpd80]

Could this then be the F-100 under development or are we still looking at the mystery standard cab F-150 which hasn't been seen yet?

You had another thread on this picture, in it DearbornDerek said this:

It is old. Thats from the M1 build and yes the access door is gone. it's not shortened, it looks that way because it's the s.cab front door with no access door. 127" wheelbase is still the shortest.

 

Could it be a stop gap model to bridge between end of US Ranger and Global Ranger which isn't produced anywhere until 2011?

T6 has independant front suspension - lead engineer heard to say he's never built an I-Beam front end an not about to start.

Edited April 17, 2008 by jpd80

[RichardJensen]

Are you forgetting that you said the Ranger is competing in a shrinking segment and Ford would be unwise to invest in market with little to no guaranteed return? So why would your tune change now that Ford MAY have 2 sub-F150 products planned?

The issue is this:

 

The compact truck market is, IIRC, still shrinking, ergo a standalone product like the NA Ranger has no justified existence.

 

A smaller scale F150 works (and I've said as much), provided it's differentiated enough in size & price.

 

A global Ranger also works, except the US still has a 25% imported truck tariff outside the NAFTA zone, and IIRC, Ford has no plans to manufacture the global Ranger in the US/Mexico/Canada. Ergo Rangers would have to be kitted up in Oz, Brazil, or wherever, and shipped to a NAFTA country for final assembly, which would probably eliminate most/all profit from them.

[BORG]

The issue is this:

 

The compact truck market is, IIRC, still shrinking, ergo a standalone product like the NA Ranger has no justified existence.

 

A smaller scale F150 works (and I've said as much), provided it's differentiated enough in size & price.

 

A global Ranger also works, except the US still has a 25% imported truck tariff outside the NAFTA zone, and IIRC, Ford has no plans to manufacture the global Ranger in the US/Mexico/Canada. Ergo Rangers would have to be kitted up in Oz, Brazil, or wherever, and shipped to a NAFTA country for final assembly, which would probably eliminate most/all profit from them.

 

You've said that the next Ranger should be based on the Explorer, at least the portion forward of the firewall.

 

Nissan has an arrangement similar to Igor's rumor, which is that they based their Frontier and XTerra on a shrunken Titan platform.

[Pioneer]

ah rats - now I'll have to figure that out .... I believe MTP though (so alongside Expy and Navi). but it might be DTP .... oh well my "outsidedness comes out every so often

Igor

 

 

Well, for the record, my source say DTP will be building it.

[Edstock]

a shrunken Titan

:hysterical:

[jpd80]

The issue is this:

 

The compact truck market is, IIRC, still shrinking, ergo a standalone product like the NA Ranger has no justified existence.

 

A smaller scale F150 works (and I've said as much), provided it's differentiated enough in size & price.

 

A global Ranger also works, except the US still has a 25% imported truck tariff outside the NAFTA zone, and IIRC, Ford has no plans to manufacture the global Ranger in the US/Mexico/Canada. Ergo Rangers would have to be kitted up in Oz, Brazil, or wherever, and shipped to a NAFTA country for final assembly, which would probably eliminate most/all profit from them.

USA has FTAs with Brazil so 25% Tarriff doesnt apply.

Australia also has FTA with USA.

 

BTW, the reason Ford Aus has been decimated is because tarriffs that are in place are reducing from 10% to 5%.

Australia now has FTAs with a lot of Asian countries so imports walk throgh the door at the expense of Ford and Holden.

End of my rant.

Edited April 17, 2008 by jpd80

[mackinaw]

The compact truck market is, IIRC, still shrinking, ergo a standalone product like the NA Ranger has no justified existence.

 

But you got to wonder what the steadily-rising gas cost will do to small pickup sales. If gas passes the $4.00/gallon mark, and stays there, small pickups may stage a big comeback. For what it's worth, I know that Ranger sales have been up the past few months.

[TomServo92]

A mid-size F-100 would appeal to me. For what I would use it for, the F-150 is too big and the Ranger is too small for my liking (owned one back in the late '80s).

[FordBuyer]

I think the F100 idea is good. With gas prices rising, a smaller but not to small truck is good to have in the lineup. Besides I'm sure Ford will count F100 sales under F-Series. So sales are under one banner, and if cannabalizing occurs, so be it. It will keep more people in the Ford family who think the F-150 is a huge gas guzzler.

 

A Ranger possibly smaller than the current Ranger?......suck it in dudes.

 

Bronco! Back to original form, oh yes, me buy, yes

 

 

How about an F-50 and you can include it in F-Series sales. :happy feet:

[TomServo92]

How about an F-50 and you can include it in F-Series sales. :happy feet:

 

Why wouldn't an F-100 be included in F-series sales?

[silvrsvt]

You've said that the next Ranger should be based on the Explorer, at least the portion forward of the firewall.

 

The Current Explorer is dead come 2010 and going unitbody

[RichardJensen]

You've said that the next Ranger should be based on the Explorer, at least the portion forward of the firewall.

And the Explorer forward of the firewall is related to the F150. Don't know to what extent there's parts commonality, though.

 

Of course, if Ford were keeping the BOF Explorer that would be the way to go... Derive both from the F150.

[ray101988]

How old, exactly? The 97-03? The 92-96/86-91? Any of those are MUCH larger than a present-generation Tacoma. I have no desire or need for a "midsize" truck that will end up being larger than my Expedition (my '94 Ranger is actually as long as my Expy, although it's about 8" narrower).

 

I was hoping for something a lot smarter than this. Guess I'm now stuck looking for a used 4x4 Ranger (I was holding out to see what they'd come up with in a redesign). Good job killing off another icon.

 

You didn't read the article did you...? lol The F100 be around the size of the 97-03 F150... The ranger is going to stay around the same size but recieve a whlle bunch of improvements (new T6 being developed in Austrailia will be new ranger).

[P71_CrownVic]

Our sources indicate that for the past decade, Ford has been working on a new mid-size truck.

 

[OAC_Sparky]

Nah, that was before I knew how big and pricey it was

So you admit that you have a history of giving your opinion before acquiring the facts?

 

Say it isn't so!!

 

:reading:

Edited April 18, 2008 by OAC_Sparky

[WXM69]

From Igors article:

The truck will be a little bigger than its competition with dimensions just slightly smaller than the 1998 – 2003 F150.

 

If that is the case than I'm guessin the F-100 will be a 7/8th's version of said '97-'03 F-150. Sorta like the T-100 was to the last gen F-150/Ram and Silverado.

[OAC_Sparky]

__double post__

Edited April 18, 2008 by OAC_Sparky

[the_spaniard]

You've said that the next Ranger should be based on the Explorer, at least the portion forward of the firewall.

 

Nissan has an arrangement similar to Igor's rumor, which is that they based their Frontier and XTerra on a shrunken Titan platform.

 

This is true, and the newer Xterra certainly benefit from it. The difference between the the 06 and the old 02-04 models of Xterra (and Frontiers) is huge. This is a good thing.

 

True Off-road BRONCO. :party:

 

Open-top, removable doors, monster torque please.

Edited April 18, 2008 by the_spaniard

[RangerM]

did you see the size of the Frontier, Tacoma, and Colorado? The F100 will be a hair larger, but not by much at all - Ford will basically finally catch up to them... the Taco IS the best selling truck, and while people like boasting about the I4 mileage, it is the V6 models that take the bulk of the market in each of these models.

 

Igor

 

For any Ford Co. execs listening. Don't make ALL the crew cabs a "Prerunner" clone by artificially jacking it WAY UP off the ground so you can't reach the bed over the sidewall without being 7' tall.

[theoldwizard]

The underpinnings of this truck are familiar – a shortened and lightened F-150 frame with numerous shared components.

I said this over a year ago.

An F-100 only make sense if costs (both engineering and manufacturing) are low. I don't see how an F-100 can be shortened and lightened and still have "numerous shared components".

 

Assuming it is a "scaled down" F-150 (so narrower also)

• Upper and lower front control arms and spindle ? Probably not.
  
• Rack and pinion ? Maybe.
  
• Front 4wd axle ? Probably not.
  
• Rear axle. No
  
• Trans and driveshaft? No (unless they have a V8 version)
  
• Interior and dash ? No
  

Or is this just going to be a short wheel base 2 door F-150 ?

 

"Global" Ranger is a "must" for the company. Whether it is built and/or sold in the US is a different question

[fordmantpw]

I think the Ranger and F100 as separate vehicles is a great idea! Make the Ranger about the size of an Escape with the same underpinnings. For light duty work, the IFS and smaller frame would be perfect, and fuel economy could be great...maybe even offer a hybrid.

 

The F100 will allow those who need their truck to do a little more work but don't really need an F150, which has grown as of late anyway. I use my F150 to tow a travel trailer, and may need to bump up to an F250 or 350 in the coming years due to possibly purchasing a larger trailer or a fifth wheel. I would love to have an Escape-sized Ranger as a daily driver as I prefer to drive trucks. In rural parts of the country, I could see this holding true for many people...one of them being my father.

 

Now, whether I would be able to afford it or not is another question. Since I currently work from home, it's not an issue now (thankfully)!

[Ford Jellymoulds]

Personally l think Ford are making a very big mistake Rangers sales are only heading one way at the moment the same way as fuel prices, l think it's a very foolish move indeed to close down the St Paul plant, Toyota vultures will move in and fill their boots with sales, as the big pick-up sales continue to fall.

[ehaase]

Downsizing the F-150 back to the size of the 1980-1996 version makes more sense to me than adding a F-100 to the current F-150 lineup.

[MERKURXR4Ti]

A new bronco eh?

 

Make it truly off-road capable and not some jacked up car with a cushy ride for grocery trips and sign me up...I'll have a TJ to trade.

 

Just tell Ford not to skip the manual, people in this category actually buy them.

Edited April 18, 2008 by MERKURXR4Ti