Ford plans to build Ranger at Michigan Assembly

Ford plans to build Ranger at Michigan Assembly

Quote :

Ford Motor Co. wants to resurrect its once-popular Ranger truck in North America and build the midsize pickup at the Michigan Assembly Plant, according to sources with knowledge of Ford’s plans.

The Dearborn automaker has entered contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers with plans to bring the Ranger to the plant in Wayne in 2018, said the sources, who couldn’t speak publicly because of the sensitive nature of the talks. They said the final decision is up for discussion in the talks now underway, and must be agreed to with the union and then Ford’s board of directors.

The Ranger — which would replace the Focus and C-Max after production of those cars likely heads to Mexico — represents the kind of potentially high-profit, high-volume vehicle the union desires and likely would demand before members would ratify any contract proposal. The two sides must agree that the Ranger would be a good fit for the plant and its nearly 4,500 workers. For Ford, the pickup would mark the return to a small — but growing — midsize truck segment that would help it meet stricter fleet-wide fuel economy standards demanded by the federal government.

“There’s a real hunger for midsize trucks right now,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “Once upon a time, there were a lot of midsize trucks in this market. The ones that are available are cashing in on the demand.”

New offerings like General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon helped midsize truck sales rise recently after a long decline. But through the first seven months of 2015, the segment represented just 2.1 percent of the overall market, according to Edmunds.com.

It’s unclear if the Ranger will be the only product brought into the 5 million-square-foot Wayne plant. Five vehicles currently are built there — the Ford Focus, Focus Electric, Focus ST, C-Max Hybrid and C-Max Energi — and workers made about 265,000 vehicles last year.

Ford in July said it was pulling production of all its vehicles out of Michigan Assembly in 2018, but both the union and automaker have said repeatedly that they expect to avoid shuttering the plant and hope to introduce a new product there.

“We actively are pursuing future vehicle alternatives to produce at Michigan Assembly and will discuss this issue with UAW leadership as part of the upcoming negotiations,” spokeswoman Kristina Adamski said in an emailed statement. Ford does not comment on future products.

More @ Detroit News

The article headline is slightly reaching.  Wants to, plans, negotiating, discussions, according to sources.  Lot of discretionary and vague terms at this point.   Waiting for Ford PR to push an official statement out to the media with "Ranger will be produced at Wayne starting 201X" before declaring it a done deal.

Now Ford in the not too distant past criticized GM for diving into the smaller footprint.

Ford trying to get ahead of a systemic economic correction of 20%?  Those who would normally be buying $45k trucks, may only have the capacity for a $32k truck?  As the F-150 goes so does Ford, chalk this up as revenue plan B.

Yup, the interweb is abuzz with that little treat. In my eyes, it was inevitable. Ford simply cannot sit back and watch GM reap the rewards in the midsize market. There's also more talk of Jeep bringing back a midsize pickup (how long have we been hearing this) to get FCA back in the game as well.

Time will tell...

https://pickupownersgroup.forumotion.com/t1122-ford-mini-pickup

Ohh what a difference Toyota continuing its reign, GM success, and nine months make.

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A new report finds Ford is considering returning to the small pickup segment after a nearly three-year long hiatus.

The project is at the embryonic stage of development and it hasn’t been approved by Ford’s top brass yet. However, Dave Scott, the marketing director of the Blue Oval’s truck division, said he is pushing for the introduction of a truly compact pickup that would be smaller than the recently-introduced 2015 Chevrolet Colorado / GMC Canyon duo.

Speaking with USA Today, Scott explained the ideal compact truck needs to be roughly the same size as the 200-inch long Ranger that was axed in December of 2011. The truck needs to be built in the United States in order to avoid the Chicken Tax and it must get about seven miles per gallon more than a full-size model. Finally, the truck should cost between $5,000 and $6,000 less than a 2015 F-150.

Ford is still debating whether it’s smarter to design a truck from scratch or to modify an existing overseas model to meet U.S. standards. Either way, the upcoming compact pickup will most likely ride on a unibody architecture for cost and weight reasons.

Putting an end to a long-standing rumor, Scott stressed the body-on-frame Ranger (pictured) that is sold in a host of global markets will not be sold in the United States.

“It’s too big. It’s 90% of the F-150 size,” explained the executive.

A time frame for when Ford will decide whether or not to re-enter the compact truck segment was not given.

They need to call it F-100 so Ford can "claim" 38293 years of being the number one truck in the galaxy.

Half Tons are simply getting too big and too expensive. They've chased the "We can tow 12 billion lbs" too far down the rabbit hole. And they are now chasing 70 grand as wildly as they can in the name of luxury.

Time for some sanity to return.

I have have always wondered why they just don't get out the calculator and reduce all of the dimensions of the f150 by 50% or whatever they decide on and just shrink it saving a butt load of money on r&d .

It would be good to bring it back. The key would be mileage and looks.

theshyguy wrote:

It would be good to bring it back. The key would be mileage and looks.

As far as looks go, the current World Ranger doesn't look to shabby...