Ford once dominated the compact pickup truck market in the U.S. until years of product neglect combined with an assault by Toyota and Nissan pushed it to a footnote in the segment.
Mazda Motor Corporation and Ford Motor Company today announced an additional $27 million (baht 837 million) investment in the AutoAlliance Thailand joint venture to increase capacity by 20,000 units per year. AAT produces the all-new compact Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 pickup trucks for the domestic market and export markets around the world.
The expansion comes as Ford Motor insiders say that the company is finally reviewing its decision to close the U.S. Twin Cities plant and drop the fuel efficient Ranger from its lineup. Ford executives had maintained for years that the super-sized F-Series pickup was all it needed in the U.S. market.
However, strong sales of the old, not new, Ranger of 71,000 units in 2011 – up 28% from 2010, along with double digit sales increases in 2012 as the aging Ranger was being phased out, have apparently impinged on the consciousness of executives who were ignoring what was once one of the five best selling vehicles in the United States.
Perhaps sales of the all new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickup trucks of almost 10,000 in March as production was just getting underway also prompted a call for at least more meetings at Ford.
Ford Motor, of course, once dominated the compact pickup truck market in the U.S. until years of product neglect combined with an assault by Toyota and Nissan pushed it to a footnote in the segment. This first forced the closing of Ford’s Edison, New Jersey plant. The remaining plant in Minnesota did not survive Ford UAW contract last year. It was and remains a stunning amount of business to cede to the competition.
The new Thailand investment includes additional robotic equipment and tooling to help increase line speed and output. The new capacity will start to come online next month. The additional 20,000 units bring the total annual capacity of AAT’s pickup truck line to 195,000 units, bringing overall capacity of AAT to 295,000 units per year, which also includes a passenger car line for Fiestas, Mazda 2 and Mazda 3 cars at the Mazda run plant.
Ford also builds the new mid-size Ranger in South Africa.
Ford’s abdication of the U.S. compact pickup market, and its neglect of Ranger upgrades in the last decade, will prove to be a mistake if Raj Nair’s P.D. teams don’t find a replacement. With a modern cabin, EcoBoost I4 + 6-speed, and the 3.31 rear axle from the Mustang V6, the current Ranger platform could easily deliver +30-mpg highway with plenty of practical punch. Even the upcoming aluminum-intensive F-Series will struggle to find another 7-mpg to achieve a 30-mpg rating.
Spend 15 minutes on any California road and the number of Rangers and other compact pickups (as well as early-gen Dakotas) still evident in daily use will shock you. Why do compact trucks increasingly make sense in the real world but don’t make sense to Ford product planners? If Ford doesn’t move back into this segment, others will.
Ford also has a 40-50 mpg direct injection, high pressure diesel on sale in the new Ranger.