New Ford Tremor

[Kaisen]

You will start seeing this in the auto news feeds today

New 2014 Ford F150 Tremor

365hp EcoBoost V6, 4x4, 4.10 gearing
Only built as a regular cab, short box
Bucket seats with console shift

 

[Clutch]

odd wheel and tire combo for a 4X4

so more of a street AWD than an offroader then?

 

[Kaisen]

odd wheel and tire combo for a 4X4

so more of a street AWD than an offroader then?

Same wheel (except black) and tire (Pirelli Scorpion STR) combo as some other F150 4x4s

It does have FX4 off-road trim, so it's not pure street

However, it's no Raptor or Powerwagon

 

[Kaisen]

I do have other photos, but I'm sure there will be tons of info/photos hitting the feeds in the next hour or so.

It's always been risky when they make these two seaters with a console (this one even console shift, so no retrofitting a 3 pass split bench)..... the seats are neat, black Alacantara with red piping

Not my cup of tea, but should be lightweight (RC SB) and with that gearing, plenty quick

 

[Kaisen]

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/06/27/2014-ford-f-150-tremor-adds-some-sport-to-shake-things-up/

Here's a brief write up with press release and lots of photos

 

[Martinjmpr]

This is their replacement for the Ranger?

I'm assuming it is only available with a slushbox, too.

 

[Kaisen]

This is their replacement for the Ranger?

I'm assuming it is only available with a slushbox, too.

Ahh....noooo. This is a F150, not a midsize.

Slushbox? Yep. Just like every other new F150, Super Duty, Silverado, Sierra, Tundra, Titan, etc, etc

On paper, it should be quicker than the previous SVT Lightning

 

[Clutch]

Ahh....noooo. This is a F150, not a midsize.

Slushbox? Yep. Just like every other new F150, Super Duty, Silverado, Sierra, Tundra, Titan, etc, etc

On paper, it should be quicker than the previous SVT Lightning

I think what he means, since Ford canned the Ranger, they expected those customers to "move up" to a fuel efficient F150...however those buyers are purchasing
Nissan Frontiers and Tacomas instead.

Read an article where Ford was realized they made a mistake discontinuing the Ranger. Isn't it better to sell a few than none at all?

Slushbox=bummer...just like all the rest of the half tons. Someone offered a 1/2 ton with a manual trans, I would buy one today, (or maybe tomorrow ) I would be all over the diesel Ford Global Ranger. Not interested in the F150 at all.

Kinda sad this is in the "Other" expedition vehicle section, and not in the Domestic

 

[Clutch]

Same wheel (except black) and tire (Pirelli Scorpion STR) combo as some other F150 4x4s

It does have FX4 off-road trim, so it's not pure street

However, it's no Raptor or Powerwagon

FX4 trim, street tires and side steps =mall crawler

Something like this would of been better. Scaled back production version that is. visualize it without the tube bumpers, aux. lights
and with a windshield

View attachment 169500

 

[Kaisen]

I think what he means, since Ford canned the Ranger, they expected those customers to "move up" to a fuel efficient F150...however those buyers are purchasing
Nissan Frontiers and Tacomas instead.

Not true

Ford sold 70,832 Rangers in their last full year of production

In 2012, Toyota sold 141,365 Tacomas
In 2013, Toyota is on pace to sell 161K Tacomas.....a 20K unit increase

In 2012, Nissan sold 55,435 Frontiers
In 2013, Nissan is on pace to sell 57K Frontiers.....a 2K unit increase

In 2012, Ford sold 645,316 F-series
In 2013, Ford is on pace to sell 719K F-series.....a 73K unit increase

So the Tacoma and Frontier are up a combined 22K units, and Rangers accounted for 71K lost units, and you think that's where they went

But the F-series is up 73K units (more than the entire Ranger lost sales), and you don't think Ranger buyers bought F150s........hmmmm

 

[Clutch]

But the F-series is up 73K units (more than the entire Ranger lost sales), and you don't think Ranger buyers bought F150s........hmmmm

Just because Ford sold more F-series, doesn't mean those sales are from Ranger owners...they simply sold more trucks, whether it was fleet or private sales.
Could of been from existing F-Series owners...or Chevy or Dodge customers switching brands.

Nor does the increase of Toyota or Nissan sales means those were Ranger owners, but if they were...don't you think Ford would of liked to sell 22K of their
own product?

 

[Kaisen]

Just because Ford sold more F-series, doesn't mean those sales are from Ranger owners...they simply sold more trucks, whether it was fleet or private sales.

If that's true, then couldn't it also be true that Toyota simply sold more Tacomas? And Nissan simply sold more Frontiers?
Even if they did NOT.....there are still almost 50K units of lost Ranger sales that the Tacoma and Frontier have not recaptured. They went somewhere, no?
With the significant gains in fuel economy from full size trucks in the past few years, there are fewer reasons for former Ranger buyers to switch brands just to stay in small trucks

 

[Clutch]

If that's true, then couldn't it also be true that Toyota simply sold more Tacomas? And Nissan simply sold more Frontiers?

Yep, as I said in my previous post.

Even if they did NOT.....there are still almost 50K units of lost Ranger sales that the Tacoma and Frontier have not recaptured. They went somewhere, no?

Perhaps those Ranger owners bought cars/suvs/cuvs/wagons instead of a new truck.

With the significant gains in fuel economy from full size trucks in the past few years, there are fewer reasons for former Ranger buyers to switch brands just to stay in small trucks.

True, some guys do like the smaller size over the fullsize...even with poorer fuel economy and less capacity. Toyota and Nissan are still selling those "little" trucks.

 

[Kaisen]

All true.

Yet the industry analysts believe that Ranger sales were absorbed mainly by moves to half ton trucks, primarily the F150. We're only talking about the majority. I'm sure there were plenty of former Ranger owners that showed up at Toyota dealerships to buy a Tacoma. But not in any significant numbers.

The Ranger will be back.

Meanwhile, Ford continues to build their lead -- and dominance -- in the full size truck market. And that's terribly important.
Ford and GM make more gross profit from full size truck sales than ALL of Toyota's sales in the US combined. Let that sink in for a bit.

 

[haven]

I think Ford made a calculation, and realized that the cost of running a separate manufacturing facility to produce a truck with low sales volume was a losing proposition. Ford figured that they would capture some of the Ranger sales in folks moving up to the F150, and other sales would move from Ranger to Ford's inexpensive compact and subcompact cars. Losing sales to the Tacoma was inevitable, but overall it's better for Ford to sell F150s than Rangers (in USA, at least).

Here's a look at the Ranger Ford builds for the rest of the world. Ford could still import these as knock down kits (the way Mercedes imports Sprinters) from Thailand or Argentina if they wanted to.
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests...l_market_ford_ranger_first_drive/viewall.html

According to this article, the Ranger is a couple of inches smaller than an F150 in all dimensions
"overall length (F150 231.9 inches versus Ranger 210.6 inches)
wheelbase (144.5 versus 126.8)
track (67 versus 61)
height (76.2 versus 71.7)
bed length (67.0 versus 61.4 inches)
distance between wheelhouses (50.0 versus 44.8)."
The Ranger has a cargo capacity of 2200 lb.

The Ranger's 3.2 5 cylinder turbodiesel puts out 345 ft lb, and can tow 7400 lb. This engine will be used in the new full size Transit van. I expect the diesel will be available in the F150 in a couple of years.

Ford has improved fuel economy in its best selling F150. But the company needs to do more to meet the 2025 CAFE target. We'll know more about how Ford plans to do this when we see the all-new F150 in 2014.

Personally, I think all the pickup truck manufacturers are making a mistake by continuing to style their half ton models like miniature Peterbilts.
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