Small pickups?

[wxfree]

Where has the market for small pickups gone?

I don't want a full-sized truck. Too big and they burn too much gas. I always liked the Chevy S-10s and Ford Rangers. I've been very pleased with my 2000 Toyota Tacoma extended cab 4WD, but it is 13 years old and has 250K miles on it so I don't know how much longer it will last.

If you've taken care of it well, my guess is that it has another 13 years and quarter-million miles left in it.  Modern cars and trucks are like a good wife: you don't trade it in for a newer model just because it's been around the block a few times.  There's no reason not to expect 400,000 to 500,000 miles.  Unless you're having some kind of problem, I wouldn't worry about getting something else.

[PHLBOS]

Where has the market for small pickups gone?

It largely splintered off between either small SUVs, (mini) cargo vans or even full-size trucks.

In the case of the Ranger, I'm sure the original Escape (launched in 2001) cut into some of the Ranger's market quite a bit.

The other issue w/the Ranger was that Ford basically let it go stale when its competitors, both domestic & import, updated or restyled their small trucks more frequently.  Heck, even the larger F-series trucks underwent three major restyles/body changes since 1997 whereas the Ranger barely made one in the same time-frame (the base cab was extended three inches in the back in 1998).  IMHO, therein lies the problem.

It's worth noting that Ford originally had plans to drop the Ranger after 2008; but increased sales due to rising gas prices at the time caused them to delay that move by about 3 years.

One would think that w/now-rising CAFE standards, the main reason why trucks like the original Rangers & S-10s came into being in the early 80s, a revival in small pick-up truck sales would occur in the U.S.; apparently not yet.

In terms of Datsuns, are you looking for something older than '83?  After that, all Datsuns became Nissans and their hardbody trucks first rolled out in 1986-87.

Which implies softbody trucks? That name always puzzled me - some sort of marketing gimmick that flew over my young head.

The reasoning behind Nissan's hardbody term for their trucks at the time was because they wanted to convey that these then-new trucks were compact but solid and not the tin-can predecessors of the previous generations.  Back then, nearly every import-designed/built truck was a basically a tin-can on wheels that folded on impact.  Not the safest vehicles from a crash-worthy perspective.  Plus, the more solid Ford Rangers and Chevy S-10s were starting to take a bite in a market that was once owned by import-brands & designs.  The older Ford Courier and Chevy LUV trucks were essentially rebadged Mazdas and Isuzus respectively.

In the case of the E-series, why bother with major updates when you remain at the top while doing essentially nothing? Why spend the capital when you don't have to?

The main difference between the E-series and the Ranger is that the small pick-up truck market had a larger retail following than the van market.  By the late 90s, full-size & even mid-size SUVs essentially gobbled up most of the full-size passenger and conversion van market to a point that most vans sold were of the cargo variety.  Passenger versions are still sold to either schools or airports (as shuttles) or to very large families that actually need more than a 8/9-passenger SUV to haul everyone in one vehicle.

Look how long they held on to the panther chassis with the Crown Vic.

Again, another vehicle that Ford overtly neglected over the last decade.  Instead of wasting money on that D3 platform (Five Hundred/Montego/2008-current Taurus/Sable/MKS) that's not been a stellar seller for Ford; they could've upgraded the Panther platform and restyled the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis/Town Car to keep it fresh, new and reasonably current.

[bugo]

The 4 cylinder Rangers aren't that great.  I'd much rather have an S-10 if you're looking for that type of a pickup.

[bugo]

Where has the market for small pickups gone?

I don't want a full-sized truck. Too big and they burn too much gas.

It's easy enough to option out an F150 or C1500 from a poverty-spec "fleet" trim package to some big-motor, 4WD, off-road-ready truck from $22K to $50K just by questioning the buyer's insecurities. I'd heard the profit margins were therefore greater than a Ranger/S10; once you'd put enough options into it, it became easy to point to the bigger truck as an alternative.

Sales bore this out, and the Ranger, a former best-seller in the segment, fell away to the Colorado and the Tacoma.

But I agree, I'd have little to no use for a full-size truck; with the passenger-car market offering some smaller sizes (the so-called A or B-segment), you'd think some sort of small truck market would also make itself available, but I suppose it would only sell in congested urban areas.

If they would only make a truck the size of the '60s-'80s full sized pickups.  The new pickup trucks are monsters and they are too tall to load cargo over the side unless you're 6'8" or taller.

[bugo]

what would you do with a truck in an urban environment? 

Help your friends move large objects.  If you own a pickup in the city, everybody will be your best friend.

[Mdcastle]

what would you do with a truck in an urban environment? 

Help your friends move large objects.  If you own a pickup in the city, everybody will be your best friend.

Or move large objects for yourself. Ikea furniture? Wood chips for your garden? A dresser from Goodwill? Take your bicycle down to the trail? No problem. I own an SUV and although I don't have a family a car would never suit my needs. If you need to haul tall and/or long and/or dirty stuff you might want a pickup instead of an SUV or minivan.

[bugo]

Where has the market for small pickups gone?

I don't want a full-sized truck. Too big and they burn too much gas. I always liked the Chevy S-10s and Ford Rangers. I've been very pleased with my 2000 Toyota Tacoma extended cab 4WD, but it is 13 years old and has 250K miles on it so I don't know how much longer it will last.

Discontinuing the Ranger is one of Ford's few recent moves that made me sad, especially when they justified it with "sales are declining." Sales were declining because you were still using a platform from the 80s and a body from 1993! Apparently the Ranger they sell now in international markets (not here, thanks to the "chicken tax" on light trucks) is "too close in size to the F-150", and the F-150 can get gas mileage that's pretty close anyway. So apparently Ford thinks you only wanted a compact pickup for the fuel economy, and with that a moot point, you'll be quiet. 

Rangers don't get good mileage.  A fully loaded V6 4x4 gets maybe 18 on the highway. 

Ford claims they weren't selling enough Rangers, but they were selling over 50,000 a year, which isn't bad for a platform that was amortized decades ago.

[bugo]

"chicken tax"

?

The chicken tax is a 25% tariff on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks imposed in 1963 by the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson in response to tariffs placed by France and West Germany on importation of U.S. chicken.

That's why virtually every pickup truck you see in the US, including the Tacoma, Titan, Ridgeline, etc., is manufactured in North America. Too expensive to import.

The Ford Transit Connect van is built in Turkey with a full interior, shipped to the US where the interior is removed to circumvent the chicken tax.

[DaBigE]

In the case of the E-series, why bother with major updates when you remain at the top while doing essentially nothing? Why spend the capital when you don't have to?

The main difference between the E-series and the Ranger is that the small pick-up truck market had a larger retail following than the van market.  By the late 90s, full-size & even mid-size SUVs essentially gobbled up most of the full-size passenger and conversion van market to a point that most vans sold were of the cargo variety.  Passenger versions are still sold to either schools or airports (as shuttles) or to very large families that actually need more than a 8/9-passenger SUV to haul everyone in one vehicle.

I think you're reading a bit too much into my post. I was never intending my response to be a comparison between the Ranger and the E-Series.

Look how long they held on to the panther chassis with the Crown Vic.

Again, another vehicle that Ford overtly neglected over the last decade.  Instead of wasting money on that D3 platform (Five Hundred/Montego/2008-current Taurus/Sable/MKS) that's not been a stellar seller for Ford; they could've upgraded the Panther platform and restyled the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis/Town Car to keep it fresh, new and reasonably current.

Ford neglected it because they realized that no mater what they did to it, the car would be stuck with the "geezermobile" stigma. Like your comment regarding the sales of the E-Series, Ford knew that the car would only sell in fleet versions and fleets hate major design changes, since it means additional up-fitting costs. Furthermore, cosmetic changes alone would not help the Panther platform family, as there were design flaws beginning with the frame (gas tank position to name one big one).

[PHLBOS]

Ford neglected it because they realized that no mater what they did to it, the car would be stuck with the "geezermobile" stigma.

To some degree, Chrysler & Dodge disproved such when they launched their RWD 300s and Charger sedans in 2005 and 2006 respectively.  The 300's now got a Hood/Gangsta stigma.

Before GM killed off its RWD B & C-body platforms after 1996; Chevy's Impala SS helped remove some of the geezer stigma.  Had Mercury launched its Grand Marquis-based Marauder a few years earlier than it did and priced it more competitively (it stickered about $5000 higher than the most loaded Grand Marquis whereas the mid-90s Impala SS was closer in price to the top-end Caprice); it would've seen better sales.

Had Lincoln gave production approval of its Continental Concept car and placed it even on its Panther platform to reduce costs, it would've attracted more retail buyers as well as kept fleet buyers (& limo coach-builders); especially had it been launched circa 2005; a few years before the economy really hit the fan.

2002 Continental Concept car displays retro-cues from the '61-'69 suicide-door era Continentals


IMHO, a production-version of the above (the suicide doors probably wouldn't survive into production) would've been a much more worthy flagship and successor to the Town Car than the anemic MKS.

Furthermore, cosmetic changes alone would not help the Panther platform family, as there were design flaws beginning with the frame (gas tank position to name one big one).

As one who has owned a '97 Crown Vic. since new, I can tell you that much of that was more of an aftermarket cop equipment installation/alteration-issue than anything else (drilling holes on the frame near gas tank to install/attach some police-related equipment).  To the best of my knowledge, non-police Panthers (like my Crown Vic, the Grand Marquis & the slightly larger Town Car) were never part of the gas tank issue; I've never received any notice (recall or other) regarding such to date. 

Also, the gas tank issue involved cop cars after the '92 aero make-over (a major cosmetic and engine change).  All of the '79-'91 "Box" models (that utilized the same exact platform) didn't have the issue either that I'm aware of.  The '92 redesign may have involved a enough of a slight change to the trunk, gas tank and/or frame to create an issue for cop add-on equipment.

The main issue with Ford's Panther platform and GM's old RWD B & C body platforms was that neither Ford nor GM expected them to have as long of a production run as they did when they were first launched in the late-70s as "downsized" full-size cars.  At best, the platforms were only supposed to have a 6-to-8 year run; but when gas prices leveled off and dropped a bit, a more conservative President & Senate kept any future increases to the CAFE standard at bay (it even dropped a tad from 27.5 mpg to 26 mpg for about 3 years in the late-80s to keep the 5.8L Crown Vic cop cars from getting hit w/a gas-guzzler tax), sales of larger cars increased.

If one were to take Doc Brown's DeLorean into the mid-70s and tell the designers of the Panther and B/C-body platforms that it would have a 32 and 19 respectively year production run; maybe they would've been a little more daring in offering more elaborate options & packages (to erase some of the geezer and fleet stigmas), maybe even a convertible (a ragtop Marauder did appear in a Chicago car show in the early 2000s).  A redention of the Impala SS or Ford XL would've been sweet had it been offered in the mid-80s when coupe variants of each still existed.