Heh 5th gen camaro? Who needs that.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Enth...178.A8480.html

 

we might see the new one before a new camaro.

 

that 3 bar thing like they have on the super duties, has GOT to go
i absolutely can't stand looking at the super duties, and now the ranger's gonna get the same treatment?

 

The last time the Ranger got a complete redesign was 1993.

Whenever you are feeling down and out about GM, look at Ford and the Ranger. 17 years on the same body style, when every single last one of its competitors introduced an ALL NEW truck in the past couple of years.

 

I was hoping to see a SVT Ranger of some sort........

 

But the thing is, they consistently sell very well. Ford doesn't care how many years in a row that the Ranger looks the same...as long as they sell, they are happy, and right now, the Ranger is only one of the many reasons Ford is extremely happy.

 

Sales have been dropping like crazy. Ranger used to be #1 by a good amount, now the Colorado and Tacoma both out sell the Ranger.

 

Just a facelift for 2006....and a total redesign for 2010...maybe?

Ford is doing the right thing with the Ranger.The compact truck market is drying up and there is no good reason to sink huge amounts of money into a pure compact like the Canyon/Colorado.

 

It is a segment Ford once sold 200,000+ units a year (just 2 years ago) , they are basically throwing that away and giving the #1 spot to Chevrolet, with Toyota at a very close 2nd. Most companies would kill for a 200K+ unit product.

With the increase in Crew cab modles and the rising gas prices, I think the midsize/compact segment will do very well over the next few years.

 

While everyone wants to bash Ford for not doing a ground up redesign on the Ranger, I can certainly understand why they don't want to........... at this point.

How many hundreds of millions of dollars do you sink into a market that has gotten dramatically smaller.............. and has many more players??? Is that good development money spent???

I don't think so. Bill Ford has already said that he is willing to lose the compact truck sales crown.............. and that he has no problem with that. Do you think that Ford will make more money on 100-150,000 current design Rangers........... that the development costs have been long paid for.............. or on a brand new design that costs them hundreds of millions of dollars, and sells 200,000 a year???

I think the answer is quite obvious.

The problem is that the compact/midsize now costs almost the same as a full size. With larger engines, or more powerful engines, it now only gets a few miles per gallon more. The trucks are larger, and heavier than they used to be. I can certainly understand why the market is shrinking.

 

A compact crew cab typically doesn't improve upon the fuel economy and parking lot maneuverability of a full-sized truck enough to justify the loss of utility and performance. Most buyers who cross shop will find that well equiped crew cab 4x4 compact is a poor value compared to comparably equipped fullsized extended cab 4x4. If there's a future for compact trucks, it's in third world markets like Thailand, Brasil and South Africa - not North America.

On the other hand, midsized trucks can easily stand in for the disappearing lower-end models of fullsized pickup truck lines as well as the dying compact segment. For instance, there isn't much of a reason to produce 6-cylinder, regular cab fullsized trucks anymore. That sort of bottom end buyer is easily shifted into a midsized truck.

 

And that's precisely why I'm not criticising Ford in this case.