New Ranger Off to a Slow Start

[EcoRanger]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/aut...ld-nissan-frontier/ar-AAARIqJ?ocid=spartandhp

If this is true my felling is it's because Ford didn't build enough Rangers fast enough and no incentives. It's like Ford is blindly stumbling around not sure what to build and basically thumbing their noses at those who have preordered and still haven't got their trucks.

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[Geoff]

If it's true it's because Ford was starting up a whole new assembly line in a renovated building that was used for building cars prior to Rangers. You don't just flick a switch and start rolling 1000 vehicles off the line on day 1 - It takes time to get it all going smoothly. And, we've heard they've had parts shortages which don't help the production numbers either. Finally, how many Ford dealers had Rangers in stock during the first few months. It just takes time to get the line rolling and dealers stocked.

Personally, I'm not surprised at the sales numbers and I think those will swing upwards for the Ranger....it's a great little truck.

 

[VAMike]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/aut...ld-nissan-frontier/ar-AAARIqJ?ocid=spartandhp

If this is true my felling is it's because Ford didn't build enough Rangers fast enough and no incentives. It's like Ford is blindly stumbling around not sure what to build and basically thumbing their noses at those who have preordered and still haven't got their trucks.

It's an idiotic article. There were no rangers at dealers in January, so how could it possibly outsell anything? Any article that looks at year to date is going to be stupid for that reason. (For an existing brand, most of the volume at the beginning of new model year is the closeout of last year's model so you're comparing apples and oranges.) If you look at month to month numbers, in April the ranger outsold the canyon, the ridgeline, and the frontier. If an article talking about sales through April deliberately avoids talking about April's numbers, it's an article with an agenda. Ford has been consistently up month-over-month, and there's still very little inventory on the lots. If they're selling what they're building, what's the problem?

 

[RedlandRanger]

It does seem (for whatever reason), Car and Driver has some beef with either Ford or Rangers in general. They went from a pretty glowing Ranger review to a pretty scathing one a few months later, and this article is simply clickbait with slanted statistics to support their headline. It is obvious to anyone who knows ANYTHING about the automotive world that Ford is ramping up production on a NEW model, which takes time. April is starting to show the truck catching up, as inventory starts appearing more consistently at dealers.

What little respect I had for C&D is rapidly disappearing. They seem to have no integrity whatsoever.

 

[jsphlynch]

there's still very little inventory on the lots

And the inventory that IS on the lots still doesn't really approach the base price. According to their website, our local dealer has only 4 Rangers on the lot, with the cheapest MSRP being $35,370. Compare that to the Canyon (15 on lot, starting at $26,870), Colorado (23 on lot, starting at $21,495), and Tacoma (25 on lot, starting at $25,328), assuming the dealers' websites are up to date (all prices MSRP).

I recall reading somewhere that Ford was anticipating it would take 6-8 months to fully stock their dealers. Comparing sales numbers before that occurs is ridiculous; you can't sell what doesn't exist.

 

[Geoff]

It does seem (for whatever reason), Car and Driver has some beef with either Ford or Rangers in general. They went from a pretty glowing Ranger review to a pretty scathing one a few months later, and this article is simply clickbait with slanted statistics to support their headline. It is obvious to anyone who knows ANYTHING about the automotive world that Ford is ramping up production on a NEW model, which takes time. April is starting to show the truck catching up, as inventory starts appearing more consistently at dealers.

What little respect I had for C&D is rapidly disappearing. They seem to have no integrity whatsoever.

Totally agree. They also had the balls to name the Ridgeline truck of the year. What a joke.

Car and Driver = Fake News.

 

[SubVet]

The "lack of sales" maybe because the Ranger is priced pretty high initially. When normal incentives hit the truck will take off. My brother was sold on the Tacoma. I had 2016 Tacoma and it had plenty of issues, I don't expect the Ford to be problem free. Fit and finish is not exactly perfect. He test drove the new Tacoma then we went to Ford and test drove the Ranger....We bought on the spot (as they had the exact build I would have ordered,)

From what I see locally, there just aren't enough trucks on the lots to keep people from ordering what they want. The other thing I think Tacoma owners, in particular, are concerned with is the 4 banger engine. Many don't understand how a 4 banger can deliver the HP and torque numbers a six-cylinder cannot beat.

I seriously think the Small 2.3 leaves a lot of people cold and they won't even test drive it, People need to be educated on the 2.3

It is capable of 385 HP as represented here:

The 2.3L version of the EcoBoost engine debuted in the 2015 Lincoln MKC crossover and has been implemented in many Ford and Lincoln vehicles with various outputs.

The 2.3 L EcoBoost engine is produced with the 2.0 L EcoBoost at the Valencia Engine Plant in Valencia, Spain. In March 2015 Ford announced the official production start of the all-new twin-scroll 2.0-liter and 2.3-liter EcoBoost engines for North America at its Cleveland Engine Plant in Ohio.[48]

Applications[edit]

• 270 hp (201 kW; 274 PS) at 5500 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2019– Ford Ranger
• 280 hp (209 kW; 284 PS) at 5600 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2016–2019 Ford Explorer
  • 2020– Lincoln Corsair
• 285 hp (213 kW; 289 PS) at 5500 rpm, 305 lb⋅ft (414 N⋅m) at 2750 rpm
  • 2015–2019 Lincoln MKC
• 300 hp (224 kW; 304 PS) at 5500 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2020– Ford Explorer
• 310 hp (231 kW; 314 PS) at 5500 rpm, 320–350 lb⋅ft (434–475 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2015– Ford Mustang EcoBoost
• 350 hp (261 kW; 355 PS) at 6000 rpm, 350 lb⋅ft (475 N⋅m) at 3200 rpm
  • 2016–2018 Ford Focus RS[49]
  • 2016- Zenos E10 R[50]
• 385 hp (287 kW; 390 PS) at 6000 rpm, 369 lb⋅ft (500 N⋅m) at 3200 rpm
  • 2016–2017 VUHL 05 RR
• 276 hp (206 kW; 280 PS) at 5500 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000–4000 rpm
  • 2019– Ford Focus ST (2020)

All in all, I am glad it's not a "me too" truck like Tacoma. But I am sure as people are educated to the fact this truck is not totally new and the 4 cyl is indeed a power house, Ford will sell these trucks in larger numbers

 

[VAMike]

The "lack of sales" maybe because the Ranger is priced pretty high initially.

There's no point trying to explain "lack of sales" because it doesn't exist. They aren't piling up on the lot, so production is not outpacing demand. There's not a money issue because what rangers are on the lot are mostly XLT--the Lariats get snapped up as soon as they hit. When XLs arrive in numbers it will open up sales to a different set of consumers, but the people who want the Lariat are buying it now. (At the base level I think Ford has the most compelling package in the segment by far, so I don't think they'll have any trouble moving XLs.)

The other thing I think Tacoma owners, in particular, are concerned with is the 4 banger engine. Many don't understand how a 4 banger can deliver the HP and torque numbers a six-cylinder cannot beat.

Probably because they're so used to having an underpowered 6.

 

[Geoff]

The "lack of sales" maybe because the Ranger is priced pretty high initially. When normal incentives hit the truck will take off. My brother was sold on the Tacoma. I had 2016 Tacoma and it had plenty of issues, I don't expect the Ford to be problem free. Fit and finish is not exactly perfect. He test drove the new Tacoma then we went to Ford and test drove the Ranger....We bought on the spot (as they had the exact build I would have ordered,)

From what I see locally, there just aren't enough trucks on the lots to keep people from ordering what they want. The other thing I think Tacoma owners, in particular, are concerned with is the 4 banger engine. Many don't understand how a 4 banger can deliver the HP and torque numbers a six-cylinder cannot beat.

I seriously think the Small 2.3 leaves a lot of people cold and they won't even test drive it, People need to be educated on the 2.3

It is capable of 385 HP as represented here:

The 2.3L version of the EcoBoost engine debuted in the 2015 Lincoln MKC crossover and has been implemented in many Ford and Lincoln vehicles with various outputs.

The 2.3 L EcoBoost engine is produced with the 2.0 L EcoBoost at the Valencia Engine Plant in Valencia, Spain. In March 2015 Ford announced the official production start of the all-new twin-scroll 2.0-liter and 2.3-liter EcoBoost engines for North America at its Cleveland Engine Plant in Ohio.[48]

Applications[edit]

• 270 hp (201 kW; 274 PS) at 5500 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2019– Ford Ranger
• 280 hp (209 kW; 284 PS) at 5600 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2016–2019 Ford Explorer
  • 2020– Lincoln Corsair
• 285 hp (213 kW; 289 PS) at 5500 rpm, 305 lb⋅ft (414 N⋅m) at 2750 rpm
  • 2015–2019 Lincoln MKC
• 300 hp (224 kW; 304 PS) at 5500 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2020– Ford Explorer
• 310 hp (231 kW; 314 PS) at 5500 rpm, 320–350 lb⋅ft (434–475 N⋅m) at 3000 rpm
  • 2015– Ford Mustang EcoBoost
• 350 hp (261 kW; 355 PS) at 6000 rpm, 350 lb⋅ft (475 N⋅m) at 3200 rpm
  • 2016–2018 Ford Focus RS[49]
  • 2016- Zenos E10 R[50]
• 385 hp (287 kW; 390 PS) at 6000 rpm, 369 lb⋅ft (500 N⋅m) at 3200 rpm
  • 2016–2017 VUHL 05 RR
• 276 hp (206 kW; 280 PS) at 5500 rpm, 310 lb⋅ft (420 N⋅m) at 3000–4000 rpm
  • 2019– Ford Focus ST (2020)

All in all, I am glad it's not a "me too" truck like Tacoma. But I am sure as people are educated to the fact this truck is not totally new and the 4 cyl is indeed a power house, Ford will sell these trucks in larger numbers

Those engines may all be 2.3L but they're not all the same engine. The Ranger engine is a modified version of the Focus RS engine.

 

[Claudess]

Totally agree that this is a clueless article. The sales are totally constricted by manufacturing start up volume issues. And if you can only build X number of trucks, they might as well be the higher priced ones for now.

If they were building a ton of $27,000 trucks you couldn't keep them on the lot so people could test drive and look at them.

 

[Hounddog409]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/aut...ld-nissan-frontier/ar-AAARIqJ?ocid=spartandhp

If this is true my felling is it's because Ford didn't build enough Rangers fast enough and no incentives. It's like Ford is blindly stumbling around not sure what to build and basically thumbing their noses at those who have preordered and still haven't got their trucks.

I hope this is true.

Then Ford will need to release $3,500 incentives to boost sales, a day before mine is built.

 

[EcoRanger]

Car and Driver and the rest of the automotive magazine seem to have a grudge against Ford. I have talked to my dealer several time since I bought my Ranger the only problem they have stopping them from selling Rangers is not having enough of them on the lot.

 

[SubVet]

Car and Driver and the rest of the automotive magazine seem to have a grudge against Ford. I have talked to my dealer several time since I bought my Ranger the only problem they have stopping them from selling Rangers is not having enough of them on the lot.

Exactly.....To find a truck one would want requires a lot of stock and thus choices, Dealers need at least 50 trucks as people find what they want on the lots. I was extremely lucky to find my exact build choice on the lot where there were only 8 Rangers, I m not one to order a vehicle and wait months while it's depreciating.

Respect to those who have and are waiting for their trucks.

 

[Cerwin D. Vega]

Not a well written article. They give the Ranger a little bit of undue credit for beating out the Canyon, but truth be told those consistently low Canyon numbers should be added with the Colorado numbers when making sales comparisons. Here in W. Texas the Rangers are not flying off of any of the lots that I am monitoring. The XLT FX4 Crew that I test drove 5 weeks ago is still sitting there. The salesman told me that the ordered vehicles are outpacing the "live customer" sales. The point that was made here about ordering from Ford due to limited choices being available on the lot is valid.

At the end of the day this roll out was the chosen strategy to maximize profits, they are not dropping the ball they are implementing a plan. This is a good solid truck and in years to come it will be a contender in the mid size segment. In the meantime in my opinion they will start shaving off their maximized profits a tad in the weeks and months to come. Price is currently the limiting factor; by design.

 

[lobsta11]

Well around the metro Boston area some dealers are well stocked. One dealer I looked at had 51 Rangers. However 45 were crew cabs. Mostly Lariats. In fact every dealer I looked at had almost no super cabs . The ones they had that were XLT's were loaded up with running boards, tech package & fancy appearance crap., BUT no tow package! Finally found an XLT
Ingot silver super cab with just the 302a & a tow package that was on order. Would have preferred not to have the ebony interior but I can live with it. Put a deposit on it yesterday. Scheduled delivery of 5/28 > 6/3.
Al

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