Motor Trend 2015 Truck of the Year

FishOnOne wrote:

Fast Mopar wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

This is what killed the Ford Ranger. There just wasn't a lot of cost savings and fuel efficiency wasn't much better, so it was hard to sell the small trucks.

No, this is not correct. What killed the Ford Ranger was that Ford decided to let the old design die on the vine. The F150 and the F250/350 HD trucks always get the latest modern updates every year. That has been Ford's focus, and they have done exceptionally well over the years with their F series trucks. The Ranger barely changed for the last 15 years it was on the market. The design was ancient and the powertrains were so outdated, inefficient, and sluggish compared to the F150. I really wanted to buy one of the last Rangers because that was the size I needed, and driving it was just a lousy experience.

And why did Ford let the old Ranger design die on the vine? Perhaps the same reason GM and Dodge did the same thing to their mid size trucks.

BTW... It's very rare for me to see the smaller Toyota and Nissan trucks on the road these days.

I agree, just too expensive to play in the niche markets with such high overhead costs. Now if someone puts something out there again and sales take off we will see these smaller trucks again. Maybe GM will be the leader in this or maybe it fails time will tell. I think part of the demise of the small trucks was the proliferation of the smaller suv's. Carry more passengers comfortably and fold down the rear seat to carry that occasional big item in the back.