The Auto Writer

This just in: Ford is considering extending the life of the Ford Ranger by two more model years, delaying what has widely been believed to be its pending death in 2009.

All right everyone, take a deep breath.

The Ford Ranger isn’t known for its show stopping good looks, amazing versatility, and above all else its cutting edge design. When Ford last redesigned the Ranger in the late 1990s, they froze the small pick up truck in time, making the necessary tweaks since then, but leaving it virtually unchanged otherwise. Just about every other small pick up truck morphed in size especially the Toyota Tacoma which fits squarely in the mid size truck category.

Who knew that Ford’s slackness would actually serve the company well?

With the big F-150′s sales tanking and with people looking for economical alternatives to their current rides, quite suddenly the Ford Ranger is getting a second look.  Sure a pickup truck with a dated 2.3L I4 and manny tranny getting 21/26 mpg may not be a mind blower, but when you compare those numbers to the 14/20 mpg of the I6 F-150, you have something worth considering.

What amazes me is the number of people in the neighborhood where I live who have long owned a Ford Ranger. Like many people, they probably got the truck because it can haul stuff from Home Depot, move home improvement trash to the dump, and be a good thing to have when you pick up that easy chair at a garage sale. For these customers an F-150 would probably be overkill, while the Ranger meets their needs without draining their wallets.

This could be exactly the reason why the Ranger will hang on long enough for its replacement to show up.

Yes, Ford has been talking about importing another small truck, but that wasn’t going to happen until after the Ranger gives up the mortal coil. Instead of having a maddening one or two year gap before the all-new compact truck arrives, Ford will still offer the Ranger to whomever wants one.

Please, can you at least add Ford SYNC as standard equipment to help move these trucks?

Photo courtesy the Ford Motor Company.

(Source: The Detroit News)