That doesn’t look like a Ranchero!  😁

Yes, a platform and manufacturing process based on ce1 elements makes total sense given the 2029 time frame. It could result in a ~25k price. 

I could be wrong, but imo there is only a very small segment of people who want a ute like vehicle that you and texasota are describing. No one is buying single cabs anymore. The more car-like design of the Hyundai Santa Cruz doesn’t sell nearly as well as the Maverick does. Vehicles need to be multipurpose these days and a single cab rules out families. I also think utes just look strange, as do long beds. Sport trucks are historically more expensive too, as I am sure a Mustang inspired truck would be too. Now, I do think you could get away with Mustang design cues on a truck. Here’s a photoshop of a Mustang front end on a raptor that doesn’t look half bad  

There's always room for another truck in the Ford vehicle lineup. 😃 Trucks are Ford's biggest strength.   However, while adding another ICE truck is fine and dandy, Ford's focus (haha) should be on getting its CE1 electric truck to market on time, in high volume, with high quality. And bringing F-150 Lightning back to life. 

Tesla currently has this offer for customers trading in a gasoline powered vehicle on a new Tesla vehicle.   Frequent use of DC fast charging is still the exception and not the rule for Tesla owners (and EV owners overall), whether or not they qualify for "free" Supercharging.  

I don’t follow mustang, but I’m curious as to what the Mustang crowd’s thoughts are on the Dark Horse? Do fans hold it in the same regards as Cobras, Boss, Bullitt, Mach 1, etc? I wonder why they chose to name this dark horse too? With the bumper now painted in the newest pictures, it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the Dark Horse at all. I think using one of the other available mustang names would have been better instead of now having two dark horses.

That's what I would buy. The only type of 2 door truck that makes sense imo is a sporty ute that looks like a mustang with a bed. Cab pass thrus have made long bed 2 door trucks irrelevant for people who just wanna haul stuff imo. 

I actually wouldn't mind if this front end was the inspiration for the s650 facelift, or s750 redesign. It really conveys that clean, but sharp look that fits the mustang so well. I believe Akirby said he would like the next mustang to be inspired by the '69-70 bodystyle which I can get behind. I could see a similar front end to this working well with that sort of design. 

I already liked the looks, but with this painted front bumper option, hot damn. 

While it’s not a kei car, I think something like the Toyota hilux champ could do well. I think they start around 10-13k. The one in the picture below probably costs way more than that though.