Last Ford Ranger rolls off assembly line next week

[Primalzer]

Ford is about a week away from losing one of its more famous nameplates, the Ranger pickup, and the plant where it is built, the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The last Ranger will roll off the line next week, either Dec. 16th or 19th, says Ford spokesman Mike Levine.

CAPTION
By Ford, Wieck
And the last customer will be one of the most loyal for the small pickup: Orkin, the pest control giant. Orkin has bought thousands of Rangers through the years, so it's only fitting that the company should get the last one.

It was hardly a lone Ranger. Though the small pickup segment is no longer hot, there are quite a few good competing entries. Drive On was trying out a few of them earlier this week. Nissan is currently promoting its Frontier in TV ads, and other small pickups remaining include Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Canyon and its GMC clone, Suzuki Equator, and Honda Ridgeline, to name a few.

Here's a history of the Ranger:

1965: Ranger name appears as a styling package for F-Series pickup trucks.
1967: Ranger stops being an option and becomes an upscale series.
1981: Plans for the all-new Ranger pickup are unveiled in Dearborn.
1982: First Ranger rolls off the assembly line in Louisville , Ky.
1998: A more environmentally friendly, electrically powered Ranger is offered. Within its driving range, the electric-powered Ranger performs identically to its internal combustion counterpart.
1999: Ford receives the largest-ever order for an electric vehicle in U.S. history in December 1999, when the United States Postal Service (USPS) orders 500 vehicles based on the electric-powered Ford Ranger compact pickup chassis for use as mail delivery vehicles.
2001: The "Rocket Ranger" sets the land speed record for pickups with a recorded speed of 205.208 miles per hour.

Past Ranger trim levels included Ranger S, XLS, Sport, XL Sport, Custom, STX, Splash, XL, XLT, EDGE, FX4 and Tremor.

Ranger lives on in overseas markets, where a new, redesigned one was recently introduced.

Good riddance

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[99PONTIACGP]

Dasfinc dislikes this.

 

[Dasfinc]

I'm Impartial about this...

IMO they should have just switched to the global ranger for 2012. It would have worked with their global business plan, and world platforms they've been striving for, but they were too worried about it eating into F-150 sales (which is tremendously profitable, Vs. the cost of new tooling to build the global ranger here), so I suppose I understand why they did it.

By now, it was just way too long in the teeth.

 

[Lead Pipe]

Sorry for your loss Dasfinc.

 

[Primalzer]

The global ranger is too big, it would be hard to justify it when you have the F-150 here.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

Sorry for your loss Dasfinc.

 

[MikeyLikesIt]

I'm Impartial about this...

IMO they should have just switched to the global ranger for 2012. It would have worked with their global business plan, and world platforms they've been striving for, but they were too worried about it eating into F-150 sales (which is tremendously profitable, Vs. the cost of new tooling to build the global ranger here), so I suppose I understand why they did it.

By now, it was just way too long in the teeth.

Well said.

 

[Theautoguy]

The should have released the world platform renamed as the "F-100" and increased the "F-Series" market numbers. It would have been a cheap shot to build the market numbers up and kept a small pickup in their American lineup.

 

[Dasfinc]

The should have released the world platform renamed as the "F-100" and increased the "F-Series" market numbers. It would have been a cheap shot to build the market numbers up and kept a small pickup in their American lineup.

There would have been a HUGE cash outlay needed to be able to build the world ranger here, which currently shares no parts with no other ford vehicles IIRC. All of that just to build a 9/10ths scale F-150 .

 

[THEHKP7M13]

I'm Impartial about this...

IMO they should have just switched to the global ranger for 2012. It would have worked with their global business plan, and world platforms they've been striving for, but they were too worried about it eating into F-150 sales (which is tremendously profitable, Vs. the cost of new tooling to build the global ranger here), so I suppose I understand why they did it.

By now, it was just way too long in the teeth.

Agreed. Typical Ford. Have a loyal following and starve it for developmental dollars. If you think the compact pick-up market is dead look at Toyota Tacoma sales. They kept growing as much as Ranger's kept declining.

The should have released the world platform renamed as the "F-100" and increased the "F-Series" market numbers. It would have been a cheap shot to build the market numbers up and kept a small pickup in their American lineup.

Agreed! But it isn't already named F-series or Mustang, so it must be unibody FWD based or get the axe.

"ONE FORD" = screw you I'm Alan Mullaly...I don't care...I do what I want.

There would have been a HUGE cash outlay needed to be able to build the world ranger here, which currently shares no parts with no other ford vehicles IIRC. All of that just to build a 9/10ths scale F-150 .

In the end Toyota and Nissan will gobble up a majority of the pie and Chevy gets a few scraps until the next generation COlorado arrives (which could not be soon enough). Speaks volumes about the Ranger that eventhough it was starved for any developmental dollars over the last decade and change it was still the superior truck to the Colorado/Canyon counterparts.

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

dasfinc is going to take three bereavement days from work for this

 

[Fish]

dasfinc is going to take three bereavement days from work for this

We usually get 3 to mourn a loss. Im sure with his job paying pre tax for the train, he probably gets a week.

 

[C.Evans]

I wonder what Ford's version of the Chevy Colorado will be.

 

[Outlaw]

Colorado's are garbage trucks, they're so cheap inside, they share some interior parts with the avaeo (sp)?

 

[skeezer]

ok fixed

 

[DanJ]

 

[Dasfinc]

Seriously...? Sensoring R.A.N.G.E.R,

 

[Smokinhot]

 

[MikeyLikesIt]

I looked at all of the small pickups and there wasn't much of a choice. The Tacoma was the only choice for a daily driver.

 

[SleeperLS]

ok fixed

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

ok fixed

 

[THEHKP7M13]

Seriously...? Sensoring R.A.N.G.E.R,

THE HATERS ARE STRONG. FUCK THEM!

 

[Primalzer]

IT WAS STARVED OF DEVELOPMENT DOLLARS FOR A REASON! IT IS OLD TECH AND HAS NO BUSINESS BEING IN THE 21ST CENTURY. LET GO OF THE THOUGHT THAT EVERY CAR NEEDS A BODY ON FRAME! THE ****** NEEDED TO DIE BECAUSE IT WAS UNECONOMICAL, OLD TECH, AND COMPLETELY AGAINST A DIRECTION FORD WANTS TO GO. THERE IS A REASON YOU ARE NOT THE FORD CEO, BECAUSE IF YOU WERE THEY WOULD'VE HAD TO BE BAILED OUT BY THE GOVERNMENT LIKE GM BECAUSE YOU WOULD WANT TO KEEP BASICALLY FLEET CARS AROUND. YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SENSE AND WHENEVER YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH ABOUT THE ****** OR PANTHER YOU MAKE EVERYONE ON HERE STUPIDER.

 

[TommyGloves]

ok fixed

 

[Dasfinc]

IT WAS STARVED OF DEVELOPMENT DOLLARS FOR A REASON! IT IS OLD TECH AND HAS NO BUSINESS BEING IN THE 21ST CENTURY. LET GO OF THE THOUGHT THAT EVERY CAR NEEDS A BODY ON FRAME! THE ****** NEEDED TO DIE BECAUSE IT WAS UNECONOMICAL, OLD TECH, AND COMPLETELY AGAINST A DIRECTION FORD WANTS TO GO. THERE IS A REASON YOU ARE NOT THE FORD CEO, BECAUSE IF YOU WERE THEY WOULD'VE HAD TO BE BAILED OUT BY THE GOVERNMENT LIKE GM BECAUSE YOU WOULD WANT TO KEEP BASICALLY FLEET CARS AROUND. YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SENSE AND WHENEVER YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH ABOUT THE ****** OR PANTHER YOU MAKE EVERYONE ON HERE STUPIDER.

no one here is arguing that the ****** should have stayed around?

What are all the caps about?