2019-23 The best

[MXGOLF]

Great article about our 5G rangers. Too bad Ford didn't push them. There was no advertising at all or virtually none anyway. I love my SCAB!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/aut...&cvid=69dd106592b24fffb84a68ba99fb1121&ei=118

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[AzScorpion]

It was always a head scratcher why Ford never advertised the Ranger more especially seeing as it took 8 years off from production. When I first got my '19 I was asked all the time "what truck is that" and when I told them their first response was "I didn't even know they were made anymore"? It's no wonder the Tacoma blows them away on sales and Ford really needs to do a better job if they want to be competitive in the mid size truck market.

 

[FoD]

It was always a head scratcher why Ford never advertised ...

Because they hadn't invested in the tailgate damper as OEM

 

[AzScorpion]

Because they hadn't invested in the tailgate damper as OEM

Probably the only plus that the Tacoma has over the Ranger. That was my first introduction to a tailgate damper when I had my '16 Taco. When I first opened the tailgate I was like....

 

[TxOTRRanger]

It was always a head scratcher why Ford never advertised the Ranger more especially seeing as it took 8 years off from production. When I first got my '19 I was asked all the time "what truck is that" and when I told them their first response was "I didn't even know they were made anymore"? It's no wonder the Tacoma blows them away on sales and Ford really needs to do a better job if they want to be competitive in the mid size truck market.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this. If it breaks in underneath me, oh well.
That is because the F150s and Super Duty trucks are their bread and butter, which is where all of their bank roll comes from.
Hints, little to no advertisement for the Ranger.
IMHO

 

[MXGOLF]

Probably the only plus that the Tacoma has over the Ranger. That was my first introduction to a tailgate damper when I had my '16 Taco. When I first opened the tailgate I was like....

Of course I got a tailgate damper for the new Maverick Dave

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Of course I got a tailgate damper for the new Maverick Dave

When I looked at the Maverick recently, I was very surprised that it didn't have a tailgate damper.

 

[MXGOLF]

I had to buy it Dennis. Of course Ford would not put those on from the factory.

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

That is because the F150S and Super Duty trucks are their bread and butter, which is where all of their bank roll comes from.
Hints, little to no advertisement for the Ranger.
IMHO

I get this argument and it could very well correctly be this simple, but this justification has never made any sense to me. If this is the case then why did they not stick to the formula of the 9-year midsize drought at Ford and insist everyone buy an F150 like they used to? They went through the trouble and money of bringing the tooling from Australia to Michigan and dedicating a production line to the Ranger - why not follow up with some marketing?

It seems to me like the Ranger fell into some odd political black hole at Ford. The Ranger wasn't only not advertised, it was barely produced compared to even the Bronco which it shared a production line with. It reeks of budgetary interference. Someone was able to get the line item on the budget but then it got in the way of other initiatives. The Maverick?

The Ranger ended up being such a limited model, at least in my local market, the dealerships couldn't hang onto them. I could have gotten a discount on a F150 and I paid a markup on a Ranger because I didn't want a huge truck, and at the time the markup on a Maverick was even higher because it was brand new.

What is Ford so afraid of with their little trucks stealing from the Mighty F150? Us chumps are paying over MSRP to not drive a 150.

 

[fob63]

I get this argument and it could very well correctly be this simple, but this justification has never made any sense to me. If this is the case then why did they not stick to the formula of the 9-year midsize drought at Ford and insist everyone buy an F150 like they used to? They went through the trouble and money of bringing the tooling from Australia to Michigan and dedicating a production line to the Ranger - why not follow up with some marketing?

It seems to me like the Ranger fell into some odd political black hole at Ford. The Ranger wasn't only not advertised, it was barely produced compared to even the Bronco which it shared a production line with. It reeks of budgetary interference. Someone was able to get the line item on the budget but then it got in the way of other initiatives. The Maverick?

The Ranger ended up being such a limited model, at least in my local market, the dealerships couldn't hang onto them. I could have gotten a discount on a F150 and I paid a markup on a Ranger because I didn't want a huge truck, and at the time the markup on a Maverick was even higher because it was brand new.

What is Ford so afraid of with their little trucks stealing from the Mighty F150? Us chumps are paying over MSRP to not drive a 150.

Yes it's true.
One positive fact, in my area a few for utility usage and few more like me. This means it doesn't look like every TACO at the stoplight. I can live with that.

 

[TJC]

Ford, like every other large corporate has "silo" products. And the cardinal rule is that silos can't compete with other silos. The Ranger is forbidden from out performing the F150. It can't even be close.

I worked for IBM in many divisions. While in the IBM PC Company, we could not effectively compete with our competitors because we would threaten the IBM small Intel based server business, and those servers could not compete with the mid size servers, or main frame servers. Each limited from competition to protect the other silos.

IBM limited the PC Company from effectively competing with its competition. We had the technology and wanted to use it, but politically we could not. It directly lead to the demise of the PC Company (now Lenovo).

It is short sighted and many of us spoke out that it is better for us to compete with ourselves than to let the competition edge us out of the market. The Financial Execs and Bean counters ruled against us at every turn. We lost the business.

I led a team that built leading edge computer management HW and SW. We revolutionized the management and control of workstations on an international level. Our solution was scalable with the ability to manage every hardware and OS Silo. We did more with a staff of 10 than our I/T services division did with 500, and we did it for thousands of $$ annually when they did it for multiples of millions of $$.

I personally took the project to the highest levels in IBM for approval after we had proven the product suite on Division levels across continents, from a single remote site. We were 10 years ahead of our I/T Services group in cost and performance on every front.

Here is what the CEO of IBM heard. The I/T Services Group President informed the CEO that the cost basis of our external Services was based upon our internal I/T Services cost. They were justifying their huge external customer pricing cost structure using IBM Internal cost figures to prove to external customers that our services contract bids were reasonable.

If my team lowered internal costs while incorporating state of the art management logic that supported not only the Fortune 500, but even mid and small companies, it would spell financial disaster for IBM.

I countered that we wouldn't be limited to the Fortune 500, we would expand in every market sector around the world. We may not make as much on the Fortune 500, but we'd more then exceed by capturing majority shares in all other market segments.

I lost that day, and they never shipped those leading edge products.
We did all of this before Year 2K. I now see all those tools that we designed, built, and used internally back 1995 being used everyday on the internet.

You shake your head in wonder at the stupidity (and laziness and greed) of Corporate America.

It is all about maximizing every dime you can for as long as you can, and only moving forward when the market absolutely requires it.

It is risk aversion, and will eventually destroy the company.

Take a look at Apple and what effect Steve Jobs had on the company. They grew, he left, they floundered, almost went bankrupt... Bill Gates saved them (1997 - loaning them $150 million) to stave off US Government Anti Trust risks to Microsoft. Steve came back, introduced a new product. the smartphone, they grew. He's gone and they are again stagnating.

Microsoft is well on the road to obscurity as well. For the same reasons.

There are many corporate examples. They all fade when they move caretakers into the CEO position.

 

[Dereku]

Probably the only plus that the Tacoma has over the Ranger. That was my first introduction to a tailgate damper when I had my '16 Taco. When I first opened the tailgate I was like....

Insert immature joke about TACO owners needing dampers.

 

[Fordup]

I bought my Ranger because it was all that was available in early 2022 under $65k with a tow rating of 7k. I probably would not have purchased it if it was like the current and previous markets where inventory was on the lot with incentives. Haven't really been happy with the transmission, engine, or color and wouldn't buy another at this point after 6 previous new Fords that we loved that were 100% reliable. Luckily I bought the 8 year zero deductible warranty. Not like the old days when techs could pinpoint and fix a problem permanently giving you peace of mind in one visit. The Subaru we bought my wife in 2022 also has been enjoyable, perfect drivetrain, reliable, easy to get maintenance appointments, with zero issues and one software recall that took minutes so mostly the Ranger just sits in the garage anymore.

 

[AzScorpion]

Insert immature joke about TACO owners needing dampers Pampers.

Fixed it for ya.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

I bought my Ranger because it was all that was available in early 2022 under $65k with a tow rating of 7k. I probably would not have purchased it if it was like the current and previous markets where inventory was on the lot with incentives. Haven't really been happy with the transmission, engine, or color and wouldn't buy another at this point after 6 previous new Fords that we loved that were 100% reliable. Luckily I bought the 8 year zero deductible warranty. Not like the old days when techs could pinpoint and fix a problem permanently giving you peace of mind in one visit. The Subaru we bought my wife in 2022 also has been enjoyable, perfect drivetrain, reliable, easy to get maintenance appointments, with zero issues and one software recall that took minutes so mostly the Ranger just sits in the garage anymore.

While it seems all the manufacturers are currently dealing with issues of varying severity, Ford appears to be taking recalls as a challenge to be #1.

The ONLY way I'd buy a new Ford is if it came with a lifetime powertrain warranty.

And speaking of tailgate dampers and air conditioned seats, the ZR2 Colorado I looked at had both as well as lifetime powertrain and oil changes.

It also had a transmission that wasn't borderline bi-polar.

Hmmm...

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