The Ford Ranger sold in the Americas is a range of pickup trucks manufactured and marketed by Ford in North and South America under the Ranger nameplate. Introduced in early 1982 for the 1983 model year, the Ranger is currently in its fourth generation. Developed as a replacement for the Mazda-sourced Ford Courier, the model line has been sold across the Americas; Ford of Argentina began production of the Ranger for South America in 1998.
Through its production, the model line has served as a close rival to the Chevrolet S-10 and its Chevrolet Colorado successor (and their GMC counterparts), with the Ranger as the best-selling compact truck in the United States from 1987 to 2004. From 2012 to 2018, the Ranger model line was retired in North America as Ford concentrated on its full-size F-Series pickup trucks. For the 2019 model year, Ford introduced a fourth generation of the Ranger (after a seven-year hiatus). The first mid-size Ranger in North America, the model line is derived from the globally-marketed Ford Ranger (revised to fulfill North American design requirements).
The first three generations of the Ranger were produced by Ford at its Louisville Assembly (Louisville, Kentucky), Edison Assembly (Edison, New Jersey), and Twin Cities Assembly Plant (Saint Paul, Minnesota) facilities; the final 2012 Ranger was the final vehicle produced at the St. Paul facility. The current fourth-generation Ranger is manufactured by Ford at Wayne Stamping & Assembly (Wayne, Michigan). Ford of Argentina produced the Ranger in its General Pacheco facility from 1998 to 2011; it replaced the North-American designed version of the Ranger with the current Ranger T6 for 2012 production.
Development
For the 1972 model year, the Ford Courier was introduced as the first compact pickup truck sold by Ford. Following the rise of the compact truck segment during the 1960s, Ford entered into a partnership with Mazda to market the Mazda B1800 in North America; the Courier would become the first of several jointly manufactured vehicles between the two companies from the 1970s into the 2000s. Along with minimizing the risk for Ford of developing a vehicle in an unfamiliar market segment, the partnership provided Mazda with critically needed funds.
While sharing the cab and chassis with its Mazda counterpart, to increase its sales potential in North America, the Courier adapted design elements of the Ford F-Series, with twin round headlamps, silver grille, and "FORD" lettering on the hood above the grille. In 1977, the Courier and B1800 (later B2000) were redesigned with a larger cab, redesigned pickup bed, and tailgate. While closer in appearance to its Mazda counterpart, the Courier was given signal/parking lamps inset in the grille (rather than the bumper); an optional 2.3L Ford engine was not available the Mazda pickups.
From 1972 to 1982, the Ford Courier was manufactured alongside the Mazda B-Series in Hiroshima, Japan. To avoid the 25% Chicken tax on imported trucks, both vehicles were imported as cab-chassis trucks (taxed at 4% tariff). Following their importation to United States, pickup-truck beds shipped separately from Japan were installed before shipment to dealers.
Project Yuma (1976–1982)
In 1976, Ford commenced development on "Project Yuma" as a replacement for the Courier. In addition to designing the first domestically-produced compact truck, another key factor driving the $700 million project was compliance with the fuel economy standards of the mid-1980s. At the launch of the project in 1976, Ford predicted that for the company to properly comply with 1985 CAFE standards, nearly 50% of pickup trucks sold in the United States would require a 4-cylinder engine. In 1976, compact trucks held a 5% share of pickup truck sales, with Ford predicting an expansion to 50% by 1985, equaling nearly a million sales per year.
Project Yuma was centered around quality and fuel efficiency. At the beginning of the project, Ford researched additional elements that were valued by potential compact truck buyers. Along with flexibility for both work and personal use, Ford found that buyers desired additional interior room, including three-across seating, comfortable seats, and headroom and legroom for a six-foot tall driver; other minor details were discovered such as five-bolt wheels and a larger ashtray.
During design, the body underwent extensive wind tunnel testing, to meet a planned 20 MPG fuel efficiency target (on its own, the standard front bumper spoiler added 1 MPG); its 0.45 drag coefficient bested that of the two-door Ford Mustang. To further improve fuel economy, the Ranger increased the use of high-strength steel and other lightweight materials, including a magnesium clutch housing, aluminum transfer case (for four-wheel drive), and a magnesium clutch/brake pedal bracket. To further save weight, the design of the front suspension was computer-optimized, rendering the front stabilizer bar optional. Though narrower than the F-Series and other full-size competitors, the cargo bed of the Ranger was given the capability to transport a four-foot wide sheet of material (considered an industry measure of space in pickup truck bed design) through the use of recesses to insert supports across the bed, allowing such material to be placed above the wheel wells.
The 1979 fuel crisis nearly doomed the Yuma/Ranger project, as it occurred between launch of the 1979 Ford LTD and 1980 Ford F-Series. After selling nearly one million F-Series trucks in 1978, in 1980, Ford had yet to gain a profit from its redesign of the F-Series. Ford President Don Petersen kept the compact truck project alive for several reasons. By 1980, General Motors was developing its own domestically-produced compact truck, with the Chevrolet S-10/GMC S-15 providing a potential competitor. Peterson also felt, if equipped correctly, buyers would pay nearly the same for a compact truck as a full-size truck (such as the F-100).
Around 1980, the Project Yuma truck took on the Ford Ranger name, adopting the name of the mid to upper-level trim used by the Ford F-Series and Bronco since 1965. In anticipation of the compact truck line, 1981 marked the final use of the Ranger trim for the F-Series and Bronco (replaced by XLS for 1982).
Production
The Ranger was produced at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Louisville, Kentucky from 1982 to 1999. From 1993 to 2004, production also was sourced from Edison Assembly in Edison, New Jersey. For its entire production run until 2011, the Ranger was produced at Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St Paul, Minnesota. The final 2012 Ranger produced on December 16, 2011, ended 86 years of production at Twin Cities Assembly as well as the production of all compact pickups in the United States.
In 2008, Ford made its first plans to end production of the Ranger in North America; although its high productivity spared it from The Way Forward, Twin Cities Assembly (built in 1925) was the oldest Ford factory worldwide.[8] Ford later extended the closure date of the factory to 2011, but in June 2011, a final closure date was announced.[9] As Twin Cities was the sole production location of the Ranger in North America (from 1982), its closure brought the production of the Ranger to an end after 29 model years. The 2011 model year was the final model year for retail sales, with a shortened 2012 model year for fleet sales; the final North American-market Ranger (a white SuperCab Sport produced for pest-control company Orkin) was produced on December 16, 2011.
Over its production life, the chassis and suspension of the Ranger would be used for several compact Ford trucks and sport-utility vehicles. During the 1990s and 2000s, Mazda adopted a badge-engineered version of the Ranger, for their B-Series nameplate (the reverse of the Ford Courier produced by Mazda).
In 2015, as part of contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, leaked reports over the future of the Michigan Assembly Plant included the potential decision of replacing Ford Focus and Ford C-Max production with an American-market version of the global Ranger. Along with the revival of the Ranger nameplate, the UAW negotiations also included a potential revival of the Ford Bronco SUV. At the 2017 North American International Auto Show, Ford confirmed the return of the Ranger and Ford Bronco, with the Ford Ranger as a 2019 model-year vehicle.
Source: Wikipedia
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