Automotive Trends

Ford has been without a compact truck since the long-running Ranger left the US market at the end of 2012. The little truck had been built on the same basic chassis since its 1983 model year introduction. Once a Ford best seller with more than 300,000 sales each year between 1998 and 2000, sales dwindled to less than 60k in 2010. Famously, the last Ranger off the assembly line was a fleet truck sold to Orkin exterminators. Ford hasn’t had much reason to reintroduce the beloved compact truck with the successful F-150 continuing to top the sales charts. With the Toyota Tacoma and GM Colorado/Canyon cousins earning healthy sales, Ford has decided to defend its pick-up truck turf with the 2019 Ranger. Fully updated for the needs of the current market, the Ranger offers s 2.3L EcoBoost 4 cylinder paired to a 10-speed automatic. The new Ranger is offered in SuperCrew quad cab configuration – something it never offered previously in the United States. A SuperCab (extended cab) will also be offered. There will be a myriad of trim offerings including XL, XL Chrome, STX, XLT, XLT Chrome, XLT Sport, Lariat, Lariat Chrome, and Lariat Sport. Pricing is unknown at this point, and there is no official announcement about a Raptor version, but we can say it is nice to see the Ranger nameplate offered to US buyers once again and bring on that mini Raptor!