Photo: screenshot from YouTube
Remember when Ford used to sell pickups smaller than the F-150? The good old Ranger kicked the dust in 2011 after almost three decades on sale in the U.S. The Chicken Tax killed it off when FoMoCo decided to build the Ranger T6 in places such as Thailand.
“Say, doesn’t Europe and South America have the Ranger T6 on sale?” They do, dearest buddy, chiefly because only the United States has a 25 percent tariff on light trucks. A vestige of Cold War politics, the Chicken Tax should be abolished as a whole. Its loopholes make it somewhat irrelevant anyway, as proven by the Subaru Brat. Fitting rear-facing jumpseats in the Ranger, however, is not doable in this day and age for pretty obvious reasons.
For all its good points and bad points, the one and only Mr. Regular of Regular Car Reviews would love to see Ford get back on track in the mid-size pickup segment. Minus the Vulcan V6, that is. The two-valve per cylinder OHV design was bad then and it’s worse now, especially when compared to newcomers such as the EcoBoost V6 in the F-150 and the LGZ V6 in the Chevy Colorado.
Other than Mr. Regular’s teasing remarks about the U.S.-spec Ranger with the shockingly awful Vulcan V6, it should be noted that mid-size pickups are gaining ground in North America. From the Tacoma to the Colorado, everyone wants a piece of the action as consumers swarm to smaller workhorses instead of full-size behemoths such as the F-150. In this regard, FoMoCo is committed to reviving the Ranger for the U.S. market in the near future.
Sources knowledgeable about the subject told autoevolution that Ford would relaunch the Ranger stateside no later than the calendar year 2018. Slated to be manufactured at the Wayne plant in Michigan, the first Ranger units will arrive in dealer showrooms for the 2019 model year. The next-gen Mazda BT-50, meanwhile, will migrate from the T6 platform to Isuzu underpinnings.
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