Good news: the Ford F-150 will not be discontinued as a result of the runaway popularity of the 2019 Ford Ranger. Phew.

As the Blue Oval readies its midsize pickup for a winter launch, Joe Hinrichs, head of global operations, claimed Monday that the automaker doesn’t expect much cross shopping among would-be Ford pickup buyers. Frankly, this would have only been a concern if buyers focused on a truck’s tow rating and nothing else. Still, Hinrichs felt it needed to be said.

Ranger folks are not F-150 folks. (Read More…)

News this morning of Ford deciding not to bring the Raptor Ranger to American shores (via Autoblog) whipped your normally placid author into frothy indignation, prompting him to print off a Blue Oval and emphatically throw his entire collection of competition-grade Elkadart Razor steel-tipped darts at it.

Okay, maybe the situation is not that dire here in the office. But given some strange product decisions, Wall Street frustrations, and a mystifying new ad campaign, we’re left with one inescapable question:

What in the name of Henry Ford is going on at The Glass House?

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This time last week, Ford was busy claiming the leaked Build & Price tool for the 2019 Ford Ranger was “inaccurate.” At the time, most of the internet got a quick glance at the truck’s pricing and options packages before the Blue Oval hauled it down.

The official configurator is now live. About the only “inaccuracies” we could find? The listing for a Regular Cab truck has been replaced by a listing for a two-wheel drive Extended Cab pickup with no box.

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It seemed like Ford Motor Company had answered prayers Tuesday, after an online configurator for the 2019 Ranger pickup finally appeared on the automaker’s consumer website. But, just as quickly as it appeared, Ford pulled it down. Apparently someone goofed up.

A company spokesman told Jalopnik that the posting “was a mistake,” adding that, “the pricing shown is inaccurate.” The build and price tool, the spokesman said, will appear next week.

It’s true that the configurator showed a regular cab selection, but clicking it only took you to the extended SuperCab bodystyle. A fleet or overseas option, maybe? We have to wonder just how different the actual pricing will be compared to what we just saw. So, for the sake of future comparison, here’s what Ford’s now-disappeared site told us (or didn’t) about the 2019 Ranger: (Read More…)

Look at the truck shown above. Blacked-out grille and bumpers, old-school phone dial steel wheels of a reasonable size, and an honest, hardworking cleat system on the outside of the bed. I’d drive it and I’m pretty sure you would, too. Raise your hand if I’m correct.

Hear that Ford? Approximately 100 percent of the American public TTAC readers would sign the note on a base model Ranger. The SuperCrews you showed us in January were a good start, now stop teasing us with overseas mini-Raptors and please whip up a base model.

Keeping with Ford’s naming tradition, I’m dubbing this the Ranger XL.

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The other day, we learned of Ford’s new Ranger Raptor, a machine unveiled in Thailand with only the slightest of indications it may be sold in America. To not do so would be asinine in this author’s opinion, given the F-150 Raptor’s halo and the fact that folks can stroll into a Chevy or Toyota dealer and easily pick up a Colorado ZR2 or Tacoma TRD Pro.

Adding fuel to the midsized fire are comments garnered by Motoring in Australia, alluding to Nissan’s interest in developing a Raptor fighter of its own. T’would be based on the Navara, of course, a truck not available here.

Is it time for Nissan USA to take the plunge and bring the Navara here? Or is it better off continuing to pump out examples of the proven but older-than-Methuselah midsize Frontier?

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Reno, Rochester, Roswell … take your pick to complete the alliteration puzzle above. Whichever one you choose, it’s a safe bet that the Ford Raptor Ranger will be plying its roads at some point in the future. We think. Maybe.

Last week, the Blue Oval dropped a Raptorized version of its Ranger at an event in Thailand. At the time, Ford remained mum about the truck’s chances of showing up on American soil. Now, thanks to a Glass House engineer’s conversation with Australia’s Drive, we have a bit more confidence in saying the Ranger Raptor will be sold in the United States.

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Sticking to an incomprehensible corporate script of teasing the hell out of American truck buyers, Ford today launched the long-awaited Ranger Raptor … but chose to do so halfway around the world from Dearborn.

It’s certainly a handsome brute, at least to this author, who admittedly is a fan of the brash and outrageous (*dons Texas-sized belt buckle before heaving himself into his obnoxiously bright-red brodozer pickup*). If the specs on the machine shown in Thailand make an intact transition to American soil, Blue Oval fans will have a true alternative to the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2.

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It seems we stood and talked like this, before. We looked at each other in the same way then. But I can’t remember where or when… no wait, I remember it perfectly well. It was eight months ago when I asked you to help me pick a perfect pickup. I ended up with a 2017 Silverado LTZ Crew Cab 6.5′ bed with Max Tow package and the 6.2-liter engine. Not all of you approved.

The Silvy ain’t going nowhere, but there might be space in the driveway for a second truck starting in the spring. Just like last time, I’m going to set some loosely-defined rules — but this time the rules will be very different.

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When I left the media center at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, I turned to Steph to say I might write a roundup piece this week, but I wasn’t sure what angle to take. It’s true this year’s show was truck-focused, and I wanted to go beyond the obvious theme (which Jack eventually took on here) and see if there was more to the show that was getting lost in the truck madness.

“Maybe I will find inspiration on the open road,” I joked.

Instead, the “open road” greeted me with snarled traffic near Detroit and whiteout conditions a couple hours later in Southwest Michigan/Northwest Indiana. So, as I tried to keep a Camry pointed forward and not sideways while surrounded by insane open-road truckers whose response to the weather was to drive even faster, I realized I wasn’t going to come up with some grand, sweeping theme for this year’s show.

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After watching helplessly as competition from Toyota, General Motors, and Nissan ate its lunch in the midsize truck game, Ford has finally rolled out a new Ford Ranger. Last seen darkening dealer lots as a 2011 model, the old Ranger was put to rest after soldiering on for years with underpinnings dating back to the Jurassic era, or at least the Clinton administration.

No such concerns are on tap for the 2019 Ford Ranger, which deploys all the latest technology ranging, from a Terrain Management System to an off-road cruise control type system called Trail Control. Customer demand for trucks has never been higher, so the time is right for Ford to join the midsized pickup fray. The Ranger’s back, and we hear Sajeev is planning a party.

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Ford is recalling the Ranger. No, not the one they’re likely to show on stage at Detroit in about a month’s time. Rather, they’re calling back nearly 400,000 of the old Rangers. You know, the ones they stopped producing way back in the, uh, wow, 2012 model year.

In fact, the recalled units stem from much further back than that, with the company saying it will replace the airbags in 391,394 units of the 2004 through 2006 model-year Ford Ranger. Yes, Virginia, this is another problem related to Takata airbags.

Plus, we just wanted an excuse to run a photo of the old Ford Ranger.

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Welcome to the first entry in a new series, Domestics Abroad. We’ll be taking a look at the international models proffered around the world that wear a domestic company’s badge on the grille but are not offered in their brands’ domestic markets. This is ground zero for “you can’t get that here.” All nameplates you’ll see in this series are current production models.

We kick off the series with Ford, which has the largest number of other-market vehicles than any other domestic manufacturer despite its “One Ford” mantra.

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In every hobby, there is a phenomenon where acquisition or consumption of everything is the essence of the passion. Car nuts certainly can relate, as there are those who must collect, install, and promote every possible tuner part on their cars. The well-off car enthusiast may collect every iteration of a particular classic car. For golfers, there are those (known as “club whores”) who obsess over every detail of every golf club, and buy every possible one the day they are released. They may sell off the pieces that don’t fit their game to fund their habits.

Photographers are no different. The drive to buy yet another lens, tripod, body, flash, or whatever is all-consuming. Here, we have an example of an obviously talented shooter using his skills to sell off a well-used truck, likely to fund his glass habit.

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Over the last two or three decades, the American full-size pickup truck has morphed into something thoroughly and completely different. What was once utilitarian and practical is now imposing, luxurious.

Is it possible that the truest successor of the original F-Series is currently sold in Europe with a five-cylinder diesel engine?

I tested the new Ford Ranger to find out.

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