Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Another New Ford Ranger?

Anyone have a Ford Courier back in the day? Still relevant in today's market?



https://www.autoblog.com/2019/01/22...ncid=edlinkusauto00000021&yptr=yahoo

Ford confirmed a compact pickup, smaller than the Ranger, is currently in the works. Automotive News reports from an auto industry conference in Detroit today that Jim Farley, Ford president of global markets, broke the news.

Farley said Ford is "investing in more affordable versions of our truck business," and "you can expect new nameplates below where we compete today."

Below today means something smaller and cheaper than the new Ranger. This statement lends credence to a previous report we published last year about Ford considering a small, unibody pickup. That report said we should expect Ford to launch a compact pickup by 2022 for the U.S. market. Until 2013, Ford sold the Courier pickup to international markets, but that truck was Fiesta-based.

We also published spy shots of what could be a Ford Focus-based pickup truck late last year. Now, we obviously aren't getting the new Focus, but the platform it's built on is a scalable and modular one, similar to others like Volkswagen's MQB. This flexibility means the pickup might just be riding on a modified version of the new Focus platform.

This news comes shortly after Ford confirmed to us that a battery electric F-Series is also on the docket. Both aspects of the news are exciting, but a compact pickup could really shake the game up for the Big Three. Nobody currently sells a pickup in the U.S. as small as this one could potentially be, leaving us all to wonder what the market for this kind of a truck is. We dropped Ford a note to see if it would tell us any more on this front, and they told us that, "we'll have more details to share about new nameplates in the future."

But why?

What?

Ford and exciting don't get used in the same sentence. This is why.

Subdivision grocery getters. City suitcase haulers.

Gas mileage.

How'd the VW pickup do?

Everybody get on board the new Dodge Omni pickup!

Actually, if I could get a new VW pickup truck with a Jetta "smog cheater" diesel engine, I would seriously consider...

Why?

Perhaps their marketing surveys show a segment of the market that is still interested in a "small" pickup. Especially those who don't tow anything larger than a couple of kayaks on top of a tent trailer. Part of that market would likely prefer a frame based platform as opposed to the unibody one mentioned, but a good portion of that segment won't even know the difference. If I wasn't into keeping our Matrix, which I use like a small truck at times, I'd be a member of that market segment. I'll take it to town for feed bags, some construction stuff, etc at 37 MPG versus firing up the Tacoma at 20-21 MPG.

The newer "small" trucks are huge compared to my old '86 Toyota, an old Ford Currier, Mazda, Datsun, or Chebby LUV. Everything associated with them costs more. 16"-17" inch tires as opposed to our older truck's 14". Camper shells are larger and heavier, etc.

I can imagine some businesses/farms/ranches getting use from a truly small truck to bring back certain items from town that a car is not suitable for and there's no need to use the 15MPG F-350 with the 5 wheel hitch in the bed.

Now, the real question will be....................can they sell enough of them to satisfy the investors/board of directors?

I was really happy with old (70's-80's) Subaru wagons, with crank windows, carb engines, 13" wheels, square backs for volume, and manual transmissions. Now everything is power this and that, turbo, injected, sloped backs for aerodynamic performance (sucks to try to get a dog crate or a third of a cord of wood in there) because the demand is for them, not a true utility station wagon. The same likely will hold true for Ford's new idea.

Geno

Or how about a modern version of the 80's Toyota diesel pickups? I think Mazda had one also perhaps?

Or just import a diesel Tacoma, like they have overseas.

Geno

I remember the ford couriers, pretty decent little trucks!

I looked at a Ford Mazda...er, Courier back in the early 70's. I might have bought one until I looked at the oil filter. It was under the engine above the axle. It appeared to need a special tool to get it out. I had plenty to do without screwing with something that stupid.

Because gas is not going to stay <$3 forever.

To compete with the red hot selling Honda Ridgeline 🙄

My 74 Courier caught fire. Lots of good memories there. Can still smell the melting wires and sulfur smell.

A big city, heavy traffic pickup. Would probably fail.

If a real transfer case 4 wheel drive is in the options I'd like to hear more.

Chevy had the El Camino. Jeep had a Truckster (IIRC). Must be Fords turn. Now that I think about it didn’t Ford have an Explorer with a small truck bed?

It’d be nice to see an actual compact truck back on the market. Hasn’t been one for years. They all seem to have abandoned the market.