The Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is a compact pick up truck and has been one of Ford's most successful products. They entered a market that was dominated by Japanese brands like Honda and quickly became a best seller. Oddly despite this success the future of the Ranger is unclear, there have been rumours of a new model being designed to replace but nothing seems to have come of them. As of now there is a plan to shut down the factory that produces the Rangers in the near future and it seems likely that the Ranger line will come to an end.
The compact pick up market was originally dominated by the Japanese manufacturers who really created the market in North America where nobody had ever considered building a small truck before. Ford entered enter into this market after their acquisition of Mazda with the Ranger. The Ford Ranger is really just a version of the Mazda B-series pick up truck. Even so Ford dominated the market almost from the time they entered it with the Ranger being the best selling compact pick up between 1987 and 2004. However in recent years sales have declined and the future of the Ranger is in doubt. Ford have announced that they plan to close the plant where the manufacture the Ranger in 2011. It is unclear whether Ford intend to build the Ranger in a different location or exit the compact pick up market altogether in North America. There is also the possibility that they may import a different version of compact pick up from overseas.
The 2011 version of the Ford Ranger is offered with a 2.3 litre I4 engine that produces 143 horsepower or a 4.0 litre V6 that produces 207 horsepower. The 3.0 litre V6 that was available on previous versions is no longer available. The Ranger comes with a five speed transmission and is available in either manual or automatic versions. The Ranger remains fairly basic in design and has only had slight changes over the last fifteen years or so. The styling has remained largely the same and many of the options that are available on the higher end Ford vehicles are not available on the Ranger. The Ranger is intended as a bare bones, low cost pick up truck and it has remained rather basic. Part of the reason for the lack of upgrades over the years has been the doubt about the future of the model.
The Ranger is one of the safest pick up trucks on the road today. It was the first pick up to receive airbags and these have since been upgraded to head and torso airbags. The Ranger has received a good rating in head on and side impact collision testing, this is especially good as pick ups normally don't do well in collision testing. The Rangers rating in the roof strength test was just acceptable however. Starting with the 2010 model electronic stability control is now included as standard equipment.