The 2017 Detroit Auto Show is certainly filled with a lot of surprises this year. One of those is Ford's announcement of the Ranger making a comeback in the U.S. market. Apparently, rumors about its return have long been circulating. Now, it has finally been confirmed that the Ranger is on its way back and it will not take long before it arrives.
Ford Confirms Ranger's Return
The return of the Ford Ranger was announced by the automaker at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. It was also mentioned that the Ford Ranger will go into production next year in the Michigan Assembly Plant of Ford and will be introduced as a 2019 model. Joe Hinrichs from Ford stated that the new Ranger will have a new engine along with new features and a unique front-end styling.
Ford's Strategic Move
It appears that Ford's decision to bring back the Ranger to the North American market is part of the automaker's strategy in anticipation of the coming changes in the auto market. In a report, Ford Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields stated in an interview that the bottom line is that the automaker have two iconic nameplates in two segments that are growing and described the decision as part of Ford's strategy of keeping its core business healthy.
There Will Be No F-150 vs Ranger
The Ford F-150 is considered the best-selling pickup truck in the North American auto market and the automaker's decision of bringing back the Ranger to the U.S. has raised the question of whether the decision will affect the sales of the F-150. However, it appears that there will be no such thing as a rivalry between the two pickup trucks as the automaker is simply providing what the consumers want and capitalizing on the opportunity at the same time. "It was much more about the physical size and that was a little bit different than what we have been hearing from customers. And so that's why we think it's a great opportunity and it's actually not a cannibalization of the F-150, but the incremental opportunity because of the size of the vehicle," said Fields in a report.
