Photo: Honda
No, I’m afraid you’re not seeing things. That’s the Honda Ridgeline in the featured photo and gallery, and it differs from other workhorses in the United States of America through its construction. And yes, it's unibody even though this type of construction fell out of favor because it’s not as capable as the body-of-frame genre.
But still, some customers just want a bed instead of a trunk. And that’s the magic of the Ridgeline, combining the traits of a passenger car (it’s based on the Honda Pilot) with those of a pickup truck.
On the American continent, the Ford Motor Company used to offer a pickup-bodied Fiesta called Courier. The small coupe utility vehicle was replaced by the Ranger that’s coming back to the United States for the 2019 model year, but the Blue Oval might be planning to jump once again onto the unibody pickup truck bandwagon.
According to Automobile Magazine, “Ford is working on a new compact pickup that could find its way into the U.S. product lineup by 2022.” Citing sources familiar with the automaker’s future product plan, the newcomer would slot below the Ranger in the lineup while being “bigger than the current Brazilian Courier.”
And now, for the big news. In the words of Automobile Magazine, “the Courier replacement might be built on the next-generation Focus platform.” As a brief refresher, the Focus IV on sale in Europe rides on the C2 vehicle architecture, which has been described as a Holy Grail thanks to its modularity.
“Why would the Ford Motor Company even consider a Focus-based unibody pickup truck for the United States?” On the one hand, the Ridgeline is selling by the bucketload. And on a more serious note, Ford is falling behind General Motors in terms of sales in the segment. The first half of 2018 saw GM sell more pickup trucks, besting FoMoCo with 478,671 deliveries compared to 451,138.
The profit margin from a unibody design isn’t as high as that of a body-on-frame pickup truck, but then again, Ford is the type of automaker that would do anything to laugh in the face of General Motors. If the plan goes through, the Focus-based pickup would be built alongside a C2-based crossover at the company’s Cuautitlan assembly plant in Mexico. As for the name, would Ranchero be fitting for this application?
But still, some customers just want a bed instead of a trunk. And that’s the magic of the Ridgeline, combining the traits of a passenger car (it’s based on the Honda Pilot) with those of a pickup truck.
On the American continent, the Ford Motor Company used to offer a pickup-bodied Fiesta called Courier. The small coupe utility vehicle was replaced by the Ranger that’s coming back to the United States for the 2019 model year, but the Blue Oval might be planning to jump once again onto the unibody pickup truck bandwagon.
According to Automobile Magazine, “Ford is working on a new compact pickup that could find its way into the U.S. product lineup by 2022.” Citing sources familiar with the automaker’s future product plan, the newcomer would slot below the Ranger in the lineup while being “bigger than the current Brazilian Courier.”
And now, for the big news. In the words of Automobile Magazine, “the Courier replacement might be built on the next-generation Focus platform.” As a brief refresher, the Focus IV on sale in Europe rides on the C2 vehicle architecture, which has been described as a Holy Grail thanks to its modularity.
“Why would the Ford Motor Company even consider a Focus-based unibody pickup truck for the United States?” On the one hand, the Ridgeline is selling by the bucketload. And on a more serious note, Ford is falling behind General Motors in terms of sales in the segment. The first half of 2018 saw GM sell more pickup trucks, besting FoMoCo with 478,671 deliveries compared to 451,138.
The profit margin from a unibody design isn’t as high as that of a body-on-frame pickup truck, but then again, Ford is the type of automaker that would do anything to laugh in the face of General Motors. If the plan goes through, the Focus-based pickup would be built alongside a C2-based crossover at the company’s Cuautitlan assembly plant in Mexico. As for the name, would Ranchero be fitting for this application?
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