Not for us - Ford has no plans to bring the all-new version of the Ranger compact pickup to the U.S.
This story has been updated to reflect GM’s plans to launch a next-generation version of the Chevrolet Colorado pickup.
They were once the vehicle of choice for Baby Boomers on a budget and others who wanted a simple, affordable and highly functional set of wheels. But time hasn’t been kind to the compact pickup which has all but vanished from American showrooms.
Could those small trucks now be ripe for a comeback, however? A Chrysler official is indicating that maker might be thinking twice about its options while the Korean makers apparently continue to look for an opportunity in the segment. On the other hand, General Motors has decided to scrap its two current compact offerings, while Indian maker Mahindra & Mahindra has abandoned plans to enter the U.S. with a long-delayed compact pickup.
“Historically, if you go back to the ’80s, the compact or midsize pickup segment was bigger than the full-size segment,” Chrysler’s Vice President of Product Planning Joe Veltri tells the Detroit Free Press, adding that, “Based on our data, young males still aspire to own a pickup.”
Chrysler last year dropped its “tweener” truck, the not quite compact/not quite full-size Ram Dakota. The maker has long been looking for a more appealing alternative and has floated a series of concept vehicles but has yet to come up with a viable replacement, though it hinted of one to come when CEO Sergio Marchionne outlined the maker’s 5-year plan during a day-long session in November 2009.
Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia have also been quietly working on compact pickup plans for a number of years, routinely surveying the market and testing reaction to a seemingly endless string of design concepts. While the makers say they have moved on to other opportunities, one senior Korean official tells TheDetroitBureau.com that “We continue to be interested if we could just find the right package.”
Compact truck fans have been delivered a number of setbacks since the Dakota went out of production 11 months ago. Ford shut down its Twin Cities Assembly Plant, in Minnesota, ending production of the long-lived Ranger pickup. And it decided against bringing a new version of the Ranger to the U.S. despite offering it to buyers in most other markets around the world.
General Motors is about to end production of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models, as well — though Chevy has indicated it will follow up with a new Colorado based on a truck that just launched in Thailand. It has not indicated precisely when the new pickup will debut in the U.S., and that means that there may be no compacts bearing a Detroit badge available in the U.S. market, at least at the start of the 2013 model-year.
Meanwhile, hopeful buyers were disappointed to learn that after years of preparation Mahindra scrubbed plans to import its compact PikUp despite extensive efforts to bring it into compliance with strict U.S. safety and emissions standards. The Indian maker is embroiled in a legal battle with U.S. dealers who claim they paid for franchises that are no longer viable.
Jess Toprak, market analysis chief at TrueCar.com, says there is a “vacuum” in the compact truck market now filled only by Japanese makers Nissan with the Frontier, Toyota with the Tacoma, and Honda with the Ridgeline.
All three makers are hoping to pick up some business after Detroit’s departure from the segment, but while Toprak is optimistic, analyst Rebecca Lindland, of IHS Automotive, is significantly less so.
“The compact is the hatchback of the truck world,” Lindland suggests. “On paper, they are the right size, the right function, the right price, the right fuel economy. They check all the right boxes but people don’t buy them.”
Why? Lindland says she can point to “no particular reason,” but Ford President Mark Fields recently told TheDetroitBureau.com there are “plenty,” including price, capability and, now, fuel economy.
The maker looked long and hard at the opportunities to bring Ranger to the U.S., the executive noted, but Ranger would have been too expensive after having to be equipped to meet American regulations. The minimal cost gap between the smaller truck and the full-size F-150, Ford believes, would lead most buyers to opt for the bigger pickup which has significant advantages in terms of power, performance and payload.
In its heyday, buyers opted for compacts because they were not only inexpensive but reasonably fuel-efficient, but that gap has been narrowed, as well, as makers introduce new V-6s into their full-size trucks. More than half of all F-150 buyers now opt for the entry-level V-6 or more advanced EcoBoost V-6 engines.
Ultimately, though, Lindland contends the biggest problem for the compact pickup is a lack of emotional appeal. Perhaps it just seems too wimpy alongside full-size offerings. So, the question is whether manufacturers can come up with more appealing alternatives that don’t just look like downsized versions of full-size trucks.
Honda tried it with the Ridgeline, an unusual, crossover-based pickup. It received strong initial reviews, winning a number of awards, but couldn’t sustain demand. Sales did jump 38.4% for the first six months of the year, but at 7,269 units, Ridgeline is just a flyspeck on the overall U.S. pickup sales chart.
And it’s unclear if the rise in demand reflects increased interest in small pickups or is simply the result of Honda dealers again having inventory after last year’s production cuts resulting from the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
The same can be asked about the 27% jump in demand for the Toyota Tacoma, though the maker’s Group Vice President Bob Carter contends Tacoma is benefiting from the fact that “some competition has exited the market.”
Does that leave room for Chrysler or some other maker to fill the vacuum? Perhaps, observers say, but considering the cost of entry it will require a significant level of confidence in a new design to give it a try.