It is sad to see the Rangers go. I am on my third personal one. In my line of work, I have driven both small and large 4X4 trucks, mainly Toyotas and Fords. The smaller trucks could get in tight places, where the larger trucks would just get stuck. That being said, most 4X4 vehicles only go off road when the owner parks it in his driveway.
A lot of valid points were brought up on this thread, as to why the American manufactures are not offering small or mid sized trucks anymore.
The only way the American manufactures are going to build small trucks again, will be when a competitor starts selling small trucks that people are willing to buy. The American manufactures GM, Ford, and Fiat I mean Chrysler react to public demand. GM and Ford built the Ranger and S10 in response to Japanese competition from Toyota, Nissan and a few others. Even tho GM imported the Isuzu aka Luv and Ford the Mazda aka Courier at the same time. IIRC, the Luv was the first 4x4 small (mini) truck sold to the general public. I'm not counting some of the Jeep trucks sold back in the olden days.
If Ford or Chevy built a plain jayne 4x4, a no fancy foo foo carp truck. With a small clean burning diesel engine, that gets 30 MPG. I would be very interested in one.
A lot of valid points were brought up on this thread, as to why the American manufactures are not offering small or mid sized trucks anymore.
The only way the American manufactures are going to build small trucks again, will be when a competitor starts selling small trucks that people are willing to buy. The American manufactures GM, Ford, and Fiat I mean Chrysler react to public demand. GM and Ford built the Ranger and S10 in response to Japanese competition from Toyota, Nissan and a few others. Even tho GM imported the Isuzu aka Luv and Ford the Mazda aka Courier at the same time. IIRC, the Luv was the first 4x4 small (mini) truck sold to the general public. I'm not counting some of the Jeep trucks sold back in the olden days.
If Ford or Chevy built a plain jayne 4x4, a no fancy foo foo carp truck. With a small clean burning diesel engine, that gets 30 MPG. I would be very interested in one.
