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Some Ford dealers miss small pickup
2 years after Ranger's demise, truck country dealers feel loss
Ford considers the global Ranger sold in 188 markets too beefy to be considered a true compact pickup.
Bradford Wernle
Automotive News -- March 4, 2013 - 12:01 am ET
DETROIT -- Ford's compact Ranger pickup is gone, but for many dealers it's not forgotten.
"I think there's definitely a need," said Martin Gubbels, owner of Big Sky Ford-Lincoln in Torrington, Wyo., who said he has many customers who would love a pickup smaller than the F-150.
Ford discontinued its small pickup in 2011 amid dwindling sales and has stuck to a one-pickup strategy since. "Here in truck country," said Gubbels, "I took as many as I could get my hands on" in 2011, when Ford was winding down Ranger sales.
Gubbels recently took a 2011 Ranger with 6,500 miles in trade and says it's worth as much now as it was when new. "There's a message right there," he says. Ford "gave up a nice little chunk of market share they were once dominant in."
Beau Smith, co-owner of Sill-TerHar Ford in Broomfield, Colo. and chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council, adds, "Dealers are worried about losing sales in that small-truck segment."
But Rich Savino, president of All America Ford in Old Bridge, N.J., isn't convinced. He says the old Ranger had run its course by the time sales stopped. "How feasible is it to bring a new platform and spend all the billions of dollars for some incremental sales? I'd rather see them spend the money on something else."
Scott: Seeking a business case
Doug Scott, Ford truck marketing manager, says Ford understands dealer concerns and is keeping an eye on the segment. "There is a market for what we would consider a true compact, a truck that is significantly smaller and more affordable and has significantly better fuel economy than what you find in the full-size truck category.
"I would argue there aren't any true compacts in the market today," he says. "The challenge is to deliver that product with a good business case." He said Ford continues to evaluate the market.
Ford introduced a global Ranger pickup in 2011, the same year the U.S. Ranger went away. The pickup was developed overseas, is built in Thailand, and is sold in 188 markets -- but not the United States. Ford has no plans to bring it to the United States and has told dealers that for now it will stick with its strategy of selling just the F-150 pickup.
"The global Ranger is 90 percent of the size of an F-150," says a Ford spokesman. "It's a big truck."
In January, 23 percent of customers who traded in a Ranger for a new Ford chose F-150s, he says. Ford maintains that F-150s with a V-6 get better fuel economy than most small pickups. F-150s equipped with V-6 engines, rather than V-8s, accounted for 53 percent of the 2012 sales total, a rate that exceeded Ford's expectations.
A 2013 F-150 XL Super Crew, powered by a 3.7-liter V-6, matches the 19 combined mpg rating of the 4.0-liter V-6 2013 Toyota Tacoma small pickup, according to Edmunds.com. But the 2013 four-cylinder Tacoma gets 19 mpg city and 24 mpg highway.
Ford dealers are interested in the global Ranger's diesel engine lineup, which includes a 3.2-liter five-cylinder and a 2.4-liter four-cylinder.
The 3.2-liter, used in the Transit commercial van to be sold in North America, is on some dealers' wish list for the F-150.
When Ford abandoned compact pickups in 2011, it enjoyed roughly a 25 percent share of a shrinking segment. In 2012, compact pickup sales totaled 264,197 units, down from 1.2 million in 1994, when Ford led the segment with 344,744 Ranger sales.
With the departure of Ford and Dodge in 2011, Toyota and General Motors were left as the last major players offering small pickups. The Tacoma's already dominant share of the segment shot up from 38 percent in 2011 to 54 percent in 2012.
GM stopped building the compact Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon last August, and a redesigned compact pickup is expected next year.
Tom Libby, automotive forecast analyst for Polk, says there's every chance the segment could rebound, leading Ford to jump in again.
"The entire industry is moving down in terms of size. The segments that are losing share have been the segments that have big vehicles: large SUVs and full-size luxury cars, for example," he says. "If that trend continues, and it will because of CAFE, that segment could level off and begin to gain."
The global Ranger: A Tacoma challenger?
Some Ford dealers see the global Ranger with its optional diesel engine, now sold overseas but not in the U.S., as a better challenger to the small-pickup leader, the Toyota Tacoma, than Ford's F-150.
Ford Ranger Toyota Tacoma Ford F-150
Wheelbase 127 in. 127 in. 145 in.
Overall length 211 in. 208 in. 232 in.
Engine 3.2-liter I-5 diesel 4.0-liter V-6 gasoline 3.7-liter V-6 gasoline
Horsepower 197 236 302
Torque (lbs.-ft.) 347 266 278
2 years after Ranger's demise, truck country dealers feel loss
Ford considers the global Ranger sold in 188 markets too beefy to be considered a true compact pickup.
Bradford Wernle
Automotive News -- March 4, 2013 - 12:01 am ET
DETROIT -- Ford's compact Ranger pickup is gone, but for many dealers it's not forgotten.
"I think there's definitely a need," said Martin Gubbels, owner of Big Sky Ford-Lincoln in Torrington, Wyo., who said he has many customers who would love a pickup smaller than the F-150.
Ford discontinued its small pickup in 2011 amid dwindling sales and has stuck to a one-pickup strategy since. "Here in truck country," said Gubbels, "I took as many as I could get my hands on" in 2011, when Ford was winding down Ranger sales.
Gubbels recently took a 2011 Ranger with 6,500 miles in trade and says it's worth as much now as it was when new. "There's a message right there," he says. Ford "gave up a nice little chunk of market share they were once dominant in."
Beau Smith, co-owner of Sill-TerHar Ford in Broomfield, Colo. and chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council, adds, "Dealers are worried about losing sales in that small-truck segment."
But Rich Savino, president of All America Ford in Old Bridge, N.J., isn't convinced. He says the old Ranger had run its course by the time sales stopped. "How feasible is it to bring a new platform and spend all the billions of dollars for some incremental sales? I'd rather see them spend the money on something else."
Scott: Seeking a business case
Doug Scott, Ford truck marketing manager, says Ford understands dealer concerns and is keeping an eye on the segment. "There is a market for what we would consider a true compact, a truck that is significantly smaller and more affordable and has significantly better fuel economy than what you find in the full-size truck category.
"I would argue there aren't any true compacts in the market today," he says. "The challenge is to deliver that product with a good business case." He said Ford continues to evaluate the market.
Ford introduced a global Ranger pickup in 2011, the same year the U.S. Ranger went away. The pickup was developed overseas, is built in Thailand, and is sold in 188 markets -- but not the United States. Ford has no plans to bring it to the United States and has told dealers that for now it will stick with its strategy of selling just the F-150 pickup.
"The global Ranger is 90 percent of the size of an F-150," says a Ford spokesman. "It's a big truck."
In January, 23 percent of customers who traded in a Ranger for a new Ford chose F-150s, he says. Ford maintains that F-150s with a V-6 get better fuel economy than most small pickups. F-150s equipped with V-6 engines, rather than V-8s, accounted for 53 percent of the 2012 sales total, a rate that exceeded Ford's expectations.
A 2013 F-150 XL Super Crew, powered by a 3.7-liter V-6, matches the 19 combined mpg rating of the 4.0-liter V-6 2013 Toyota Tacoma small pickup, according to Edmunds.com. But the 2013 four-cylinder Tacoma gets 19 mpg city and 24 mpg highway.
Ford dealers are interested in the global Ranger's diesel engine lineup, which includes a 3.2-liter five-cylinder and a 2.4-liter four-cylinder.
The 3.2-liter, used in the Transit commercial van to be sold in North America, is on some dealers' wish list for the F-150.
When Ford abandoned compact pickups in 2011, it enjoyed roughly a 25 percent share of a shrinking segment. In 2012, compact pickup sales totaled 264,197 units, down from 1.2 million in 1994, when Ford led the segment with 344,744 Ranger sales.
With the departure of Ford and Dodge in 2011, Toyota and General Motors were left as the last major players offering small pickups. The Tacoma's already dominant share of the segment shot up from 38 percent in 2011 to 54 percent in 2012.
GM stopped building the compact Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon last August, and a redesigned compact pickup is expected next year.
Tom Libby, automotive forecast analyst for Polk, says there's every chance the segment could rebound, leading Ford to jump in again.
"The entire industry is moving down in terms of size. The segments that are losing share have been the segments that have big vehicles: large SUVs and full-size luxury cars, for example," he says. "If that trend continues, and it will because of CAFE, that segment could level off and begin to gain."
The global Ranger: A Tacoma challenger?
Some Ford dealers see the global Ranger with its optional diesel engine, now sold overseas but not in the U.S., as a better challenger to the small-pickup leader, the Toyota Tacoma, than Ford's F-150.
Ford Ranger Toyota Tacoma Ford F-150
Wheelbase 127 in. 127 in. 145 in.
Overall length 211 in. 208 in. 232 in.
Engine 3.2-liter I-5 diesel 4.0-liter V-6 gasoline 3.7-liter V-6 gasoline
Horsepower 197 236 302
Torque (lbs.-ft.) 347 266 278
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