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Sales Flops of 2005
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Ford hasn't upgraded the Ranger because of the expense (and they need to watch their spending!), and the market for smaller trucks isn't expanding -- people are moving to the full-size trucks in spite of high gas prices. (And the newer midsize trucks aren't all that great for fuel economy anyway, especially with V6 engines.)
IIRC, the Ranger won't be redesigned until 2010 -- an eternity in the car world.
Regarding the Subaru BRAT, I wasn't aware that NHTSA outlawed bed-mounted seats. (The seats did have lap belts.)
However, I have heard that Subaru has tried to buy back all BRATS still on the road to avoid lawsuits in the event of crashes that injure or kill occupants in the bed.
Ditto with the current Tacoma, Frontier, Dakota, and Ridgeline. Compact trucks are morphing in to mid-size trucks.
Actually, that's true of just about every vehicle class.
I've wondered if we're seeing the 1970s all over again...cars getting huge, the horsepower wars heating up, all just in time for high gas prices and insurance cost escalation...
Going back to Rangers for a moment, I see many MANY of them on the roads (with their twin Mazda B-series) up here, and new ones are frequent sights. They are typically standard cabs, though some X-cabs. The reason? Super-cheap pickup for a youngster, as a weekend workhorse, or as a second vehicle. As far as new vehicles go, it is hard to match the price without buying a tin can.
I just did a price configuation on this site, and it says that a regular cab, 2wd Ranger with a manual transmission, with air and CD player, can be bought for $14,000 + TTL. It's hard to beat such a deal.
I think Ford should produce this to compete with the Tacomas/Frontiers/Dakotas and keep the Ranger for those who need a dirt cheap ride. The Sport Trac can be for those who need a truck without off road abilities.
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A bigger pic. The bed on this thing needs to be deepened a bit, a long bed option should be given. Otherwise it looks good.
Lucky Thailand.
The Mazda6's sales may drop in the next few years, who knows for sure. They do depend on some pretty hefty (almost GM-like) incentives. My best friend bought an '05 back in October for almost $6k under MSRP.
I read an interview with a Mazda exec (VP of something) talking about the 6 and how they missed the mark in the U.S. by making it a bit too small. He cited the Honda Accord and the fact that Honda sells a smaller, sportier Accord elsewhere (the TSX to us) but has to build a larger, bigger engined, cushier riding Accord for the North American market. According to him, the next generation Mazda6 will follow that pattern. Sad in my opinion because the 6 is a sharp, great handling car, but they have to go where the sales are. As it is now, a lot of people cross shop the 3 with the 6. When I got my 3, I could have had a 6 i Sport for less than $1000 more. A larger, comfier car makes sense...especially since the demise of the 929 and Millenia.
http://www.media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.co- m/gmnews/viewmonthlyreleasedetail.do?domain=6&docid=21738
Not sure how many Pontiac was hoping to sell, but it appears they managed to sell 124,844 G6s. Not bad.
I also noticed Hummer H2 sales are down 20% to 23k for the year. Heck, I can't believe THAT many people bought those things. They're hideous. I'm sure the H3 lured some buyers away.
The current Euro Focus and the 3 share a lot of components and both are highly regarded by most European media including "CAR", "Autocar", "Parker's" and several others I've read. Anyone claiming the 3 isn't a good car is seriously out of touch with automotive reality. They may not like it, but that doesn't mean it's any less of a good car. I hate Toyotas, but certainly doesn't mean they're not great cars.
Ford DESPERATELY needs the updated Focus that the Europeans have. I drove one back in '04 as a rental in London and it was fantastic. It felt very much like my Mazda3 in terms of handling, build quality and interior materials. It'd really be awesome if Ford decided to give us the turbodiesel engines they sell in Europe, too.
Ford has more critical market segments to work on before they can devote resources to the Ranger. The Focus has to be upgraded to the one they sell in Europe, they have to finish developing the 3.5L Duratec for the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr and Five Hundred/Montego, they need a minivan that actually sells, they're working on at least one new crossover. The Ranger just isn't a priority from what I've read in the the auto press. It's very possible that there won't be a replacement.
A friend traded his Acura on a new H3 and loves it.
I would have most definately bought a Mazda 6 if I was in the market for a new car the past couple of years.
I read an interview with a Mazda exec (VP of something) talking about the 6 and how they missed the mark in the U.S. by making it a bit too small. He cited the Honda Accord and the fact that Honda sells a smaller, sportier Accord elsewhere (the TSX to us) but has to build a larger, bigger engined, cushier riding Accord for the North American market.
Yeah the 6 is not a typical car for a family like the Accord is. In my opinion Mazda should make a Mazda 6 coupe along with a bigger next generation 6 but I don't think there are any plans for a Mazda 6 coupe.
On a side note ealier this year I bought a magazine that had a drawing of what future cars would look like and they had a drawing of what an 08 Mazda 6 may look like. The front end reminded of the 1998-1999 Toyota Avalon.
"A larger, comfier car makes sense...especially since the demise of the 929 and Millenia."
I would think if Mazda was going to build another mid-luxury car like the Millenia they would have to come up with a new model rather than just replacing the old Millienia and 929 with a bigger 6. For example Toyota has the Camry but they have the Avalon which has more room than the Camry placed above the Camry in Toyota's line-up.
I haven't read any indication that they're planning to build a larger than 6 model, but I was just saying that a larger, cushier 6 might fill some of the gap the 929 and Millenia left. Just a thought.
Anyway, if/when they do come out with the larger, less sporty 6, they should also introduce the smaller version they're bound to sell in other countries. Load it with features, give it great handling and a strong engine, put a $30k price tag on it and sell is here as the Mazda9 or something. It worked for the TSX.
Uh a Mazda for 30K thats smaller than a Mazda 6? I don;t think that would work for Mazda. It worked for Honda with the TSX because Honda could just slap the Acura emblem on the TSX and use it to fill a gap in Acura's line-up between the RSX and TL.
If those are trends that continue, the hurry to revamp the large trucks at GM is going to look like a bad idea.
I haven't looked specifically, but since Ford's number one seller is the F-150, perhaps that sales trend is responsible for allowing Chevy to beat Ford in total annual sales?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
As for the Colorado, GM is stuck with its warmed-over D-Max for the time being. The I6 is too long to fit, and GM's only RWD V6s at the moment are the DOHC 2.8 and 3.6 in the Cadillac CTS. If I remember correctly, the old chop-block 4.3 is too wide for the Colorado, being a 90-degree engine. I'm still surprised that there's apparently been no thought given to building a midsize pickup on the Trailblazer platform.
So, yeah, as much as I like the RL, it's pretty close to a flop.
If they make the Ranger any bigger they will undercut Sport-Trac sales. BTW, if you look closely at that Thai pickup right between the cab and bed, you can see the same crescent moon curve as on the Sport-Trac. Sure it's a little better looking than our American version, but it's still got that fiberglass/plastic bed, and for a lot of buyers if the the bed ain't steel, it ain't no truck.
As for the Chevys outselling Fords, I think that is probably more important to us as consumers than it is to the Automakers. I really believe that as long as vehicles are making a profit for the company they don't really care how many they sell.
Ford needs to keep doing what they're doing on the F-150 and their Super-duty trucks. They need to keep the Ranger on basically the same platform it's on for profitability (see my earlier comments). Then they need to make the Sport-Trac a serious truck with at least an option for a six-foot bed and perhaps bring back the old F-100 badge for it.
The bottom line for all automakers is the bottom line - How much did we make? And with just a few changes, Ford could easily increase their bottom line.
We owned several of the little couriers years ago, and while they were pretty reliable little trucks, they were nothing more than rebadged Mazdas. A few of them had the 2.3 Pinto engine in them, but many if not most had a 1.8 or 2.0 Mazda 4 cyl in them. The 79 model I drove all through high school had the 2.0 engine. It had a split manifold so we did what seemed natural - we put dual exhaust on it with glasspack mufflers. :P It sounded like an airplane. But alas that was the only really exciting thing about the truck.
I suppose the name said it all: Courier. Something for shuttling stuff from one place to another. They were good for that. AAMOF we've loaded firewood on the back of one until it was almost as high as the roof of the cab and it would still haul it.
But I don't think the name invokes excitement in many people. Most probably don't even remember the little trucks.
My point was to go with the F-100 name just to keep with the F-series designation.
For example, nowadays if you get a Silverado, the different ratings are labeled as 1500, 2500, and 3500. Back in the day though, it was different. My '85 Silverado is a C10. 3/4 ton was a C20, and 1-ton was a C30. Then for 4wd models you changed the C to a K.
Maybe the bigger numbers just "sound" more impressive? :confuse:
1983 was the last crossover year when they still made a 100, after that the F150 became the bottom of the line.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
My grandfather's 1976 Ford Ranger is an F250. That is an amazingly beefy, capable truck. I found it incredibly ironic that the Ranger trim designation that was once used for Ford's top-of-the-line F-series became the badge for its compact pickup in 1980 (or whenever that was).
But, how did we manage to steer so far off topic?! :surprise:
I think the first year of the Ranger was 1983 (a year later than the first S-10).
F100 1/2 ton
F150 3/4 ton
F200 1 ton
Not sure exactly when or why they got away from that...
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F150 3/4 ton
F200 1 ton
Not really. It was more like this:
F100 1/2-ton
F150 HD 1/2-ton
F250 3/4-ton
F350 1-ton
I'm not sure there ever was an F200 or F300. There was an E200 & E300 Econoline vans.
The first F-Series debute back in 1948. And back then they were:
F1 1/2-ton
F2 3/4-ton
F3 HD 3/4-ton (I think)
F4 1-ton (I think)
Bob
How did the Freestyle fare for '05? Judging from the # I see on the road here in Fairbanks, I would extrapolate that the car was a flop. They are rare here and I would expect them to be MORE common in Fairbanks than an average city, similar to our unusually high concentration of Subarus.
Have you seen many hybrids in Fairbanks? I was wondering what they would do if they had to warm them up at -40 degrees. Or parked at work with no plug-in for 8 hours.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/01/04/204860.html
"The company's gains in this category were paced by the new Ford Freestyle and Mercury Mariner, which were introduced in late 2004. In December, Freestyle sales were up 66 percent and Mariner sales were up 10 percent. In their first full year, Freestyle sales totaled 76,739 and Mariner sales totaled 34,099. The company's CUV products also include the Ford Escape, America's best- selling CUV, and Volvo's XC70 and XC90."
In 2005 they sold 76,739 Freestyles and 165,122 Escapes for comparison. So for every new Escape you see, there's a new Freestyle driving around.
This is true. My dad bought new in 1976 a "F-150 Explorer". If I recall right it had a stripe along the upper side and a hood ornament.