In North America, the Ranger is Ford's compact pickup truck. The Ranger replaced
the Ford Courier, an American version of the Mazda B-Series in a segment largely
defined by the Toyota and Datsun pickup trucks. The Ranger was the best-selling
compact pickup in America from 1987 to 2004.
The Ranger and related
Mazda B-Series are manufactured at Ford's Twin Cities Assembly Plant in Saint
Paul, Minnesota, which is now scheduled to close in 2008. They were also assembled
in Edison, New Jersey until the plant's closing in 2004. It was reported
in 2005 that an all-new Ranger, codenamed P273, was in the works to be introduced
by 2010.[1] The P273 was slated to be world pickup, presumably to be merged
with the Mazda world pickups. A 2007 Ranger for the Thai market based on the Asian
4Trac concept was unveiled, but it is not scheduled to replace the North American
truck.
According
to a recent article
in the Car and Driver, there are three alternatives for Ford: 1) to redesign and
continue to build the next generation in North America; 2) to import a smaller
version from the plant in Thailand; and 3) to discontinue the Ranger line and
exit the compact pickup market in North America.[2] There are rumors that Ford's
future product plans in the compact pickup market segment will be announced
closer to the end of Ford Ranger production at the Highland Park, Minnesota plant
in 2008-2009. There are reports that the plant will be sold and redeveloped
once the production is ceased.[3][4]
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