Motor Trend 2015 Truck of the Year

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 The design was ancient and the powertrains were so outdated, inefficient, and sluggish compared to the F150.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.

While they did let it die, they let it die because it was cheaper to maintain a single line of pickups and marketing found that if there wasn't a ranger, the vast majority would just buy the 1/2 ton (which many were doing even when the ranger was available).

Not much difference driving around town with a regular cab 1/2ton vs a regular cab mini-PU, if that's a priority.

I liked the mini-PU's (owned 3 of them over the years) but they don't make financial sense for the manufacturers.