ReggieMRegalOne05 Legaspi
Well-Known Member
The following is an article from AutoWeek. The Sport Trac was mentioned towards the end.
Quite a long reading.
Retire the Ranger?
Ford weighs options as small truck segment sags
By RICHARD TRUETT | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
AutoWeek | Updated: 06/04/07, 8:28 am et
The clock is ticking on Ford Motor Co.'s ancient Ranger compact pickup, the plant where it is built and maybe the entire compact pickup segment.
Next year, Ford will close the St. Paul, Minn., plant where the Ranger is assembled. Soon the automaker must decide whether to schedule a Ranger replacement or bail out of the segment.
It will be a tough call. Last year Ford sold only 92,420 Rangers, down 59.1 percent since 2002. Yet Ford will be reluctant to abandon a segment that attracts first-time buyers to the brand.
Ford's competitors will face similar decisions. Industrywide, U.S. sales of compact pickups have dwindled from about 800,000 units in 2002 to about 611,000 last year. So far this year, segment sales are down 10.1 percent.
Not even higher fuel prices or new products such as the Honda Ridgeline, Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon have been able to rekindle demand.
Only one small pickup - the Toyota Tacoma - has bucked the trend. In 2005, Toyota redesigned the Tacoma for the first time in a decade. Last year Tacoma sales totaled 178,351, up 16.6 percent since 2004.
Pricing issue
Contractors don't buy small trucks because they can't haul heavy loads, says Jeff Schuster, an analyst with J.D. Power and Associates. Likewise, retail customers often upgrade to full-sized trucks because the price bump is marginal.
For instance, the Colorado and Canyon have been criticized for not having enough power. The cost to upgrade from one of them to a full-sized pickup with a bigger engine - such as the Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra - can be less than $2,000.
And the relatively good fuel economy of small pickups isn't as important as it used to be, despite rising gasoline prices. "Fuel prices really haven't changed demand for the vehicle," said Buzz Morgan, new-car sales director at Helfman Ford in Houston.
In May the dealership sold only nine Rangers, negligible volume for a store that sells 130 new cars and trucks a month. And five of those Rangers went to fleet buyers so only four consumers bought the pickup.
Many shoppers reject the Ranger because the larger F series carries an attractive price, Morgan said. "A nicely equipped Ranger is almost as much as a regular cab F-150," he said.
Propped up by CAFE
Automakers have relied on small trucks to help meet corporate average fuel economy standards. To improve their overall fuel economy, automakers often have priced small pickups at rock-bottom prices.
But those days are winding down. New rules that begin being phased in this year enable automakers to calculate fuel economy one of two ways.
For the 2008 through 2010 model years, they still can use a fleet average. Or they can meet different fuel economy targets for trucks of different sizes, measured by the vehicle's "footprint," the area bounded by the four wheels. The size-based method becomes mandatory in 2011.
Ford won't comment on the Ranger's future, and neither will suppliers. Ford dealers are in the dark about Ford's plans.
Kevin Collins, chairman of Ford's dealer council, said Ford has not told dealers when or whether the Ranger will be replaced. But he said he thinks Ford needs to stay in the segment with a vehicle priced below the F-150.
"There is a need for a vehicle near the Ranger segment," Collins said. "I am not sure anyone has figured out yet what that thing should be. If you look at the Dodge Dakota, which is a step up in size from the Ranger, they've had some bumps in the road with that."
Unpleasant choices
Analysts with know
Quite a long reading.
Retire the Ranger?
Ford weighs options as small truck segment sags
By RICHARD TRUETT | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
AutoWeek | Updated: 06/04/07, 8:28 am et
The clock is ticking on Ford Motor Co.'s ancient Ranger compact pickup, the plant where it is built and maybe the entire compact pickup segment.
Next year, Ford will close the St. Paul, Minn., plant where the Ranger is assembled. Soon the automaker must decide whether to schedule a Ranger replacement or bail out of the segment.
It will be a tough call. Last year Ford sold only 92,420 Rangers, down 59.1 percent since 2002. Yet Ford will be reluctant to abandon a segment that attracts first-time buyers to the brand.
Ford's competitors will face similar decisions. Industrywide, U.S. sales of compact pickups have dwindled from about 800,000 units in 2002 to about 611,000 last year. So far this year, segment sales are down 10.1 percent.
Not even higher fuel prices or new products such as the Honda Ridgeline, Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon have been able to rekindle demand.
Only one small pickup - the Toyota Tacoma - has bucked the trend. In 2005, Toyota redesigned the Tacoma for the first time in a decade. Last year Tacoma sales totaled 178,351, up 16.6 percent since 2004.
Pricing issue
Contractors don't buy small trucks because they can't haul heavy loads, says Jeff Schuster, an analyst with J.D. Power and Associates. Likewise, retail customers often upgrade to full-sized trucks because the price bump is marginal.
For instance, the Colorado and Canyon have been criticized for not having enough power. The cost to upgrade from one of them to a full-sized pickup with a bigger engine - such as the Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra - can be less than $2,000.
And the relatively good fuel economy of small pickups isn't as important as it used to be, despite rising gasoline prices. "Fuel prices really haven't changed demand for the vehicle," said Buzz Morgan, new-car sales director at Helfman Ford in Houston.
In May the dealership sold only nine Rangers, negligible volume for a store that sells 130 new cars and trucks a month. And five of those Rangers went to fleet buyers so only four consumers bought the pickup.
Many shoppers reject the Ranger because the larger F series carries an attractive price, Morgan said. "A nicely equipped Ranger is almost as much as a regular cab F-150," he said.
Propped up by CAFE
Automakers have relied on small trucks to help meet corporate average fuel economy standards. To improve their overall fuel economy, automakers often have priced small pickups at rock-bottom prices.
But those days are winding down. New rules that begin being phased in this year enable automakers to calculate fuel economy one of two ways.
For the 2008 through 2010 model years, they still can use a fleet average. Or they can meet different fuel economy targets for trucks of different sizes, measured by the vehicle's "footprint," the area bounded by the four wheels. The size-based method becomes mandatory in 2011.
Ford won't comment on the Ranger's future, and neither will suppliers. Ford dealers are in the dark about Ford's plans.
Kevin Collins, chairman of Ford's dealer council, said Ford has not told dealers when or whether the Ranger will be replaced. But he said he thinks Ford needs to stay in the segment with a vehicle priced below the F-150.
"There is a need for a vehicle near the Ranger segment," Collins said. "I am not sure anyone has figured out yet what that thing should be. If you look at the Dodge Dakota, which is a step up in size from the Ranger, they've had some bumps in the road with that."
Unpleasant choices
Analysts with know
