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Proof that Ford Bronco should return. Article: Mistake When It Stopped Small Pickups

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Via Bloomberg:

Proof That Ford Made a Mistake When It Stopped Making Small Pickups

Two charts show just how America’s pickup king got outmaneuvered by GM

August 27, 2015 — 10:06 AM PDT


At Ford there’s the big F-Series pickup, and then there’s everything else. It is the automaker’s North Star, its bread and butter, the one pickup truck to rule them all.

The company idled its smaller Ford Ranger pickup in North America at the end of 2011 and at the same time started overhauling the Transit, its small van. The thinking was that the van would win small-business buyers without cannibalizing pickup sales1. That’s exactly what happened. But it now appears that Ford didn’t spend enough time working out the game theory of its product shift.

General Motors saw a huge gap in the pickup market and last year rolled out its all-new midsize Chevrolet Colorado and the GMC Canyon (essentially a fancier version of the Colorado). Here’s how that bet panned out:

chart1.jpg

Chevy couldn’t build the little trucks fast enough, and in no time GM had a real challenger to the Toyota Tacoma, the longtime leader in the category. The smaller pickups also didn’t seem to tow any buyers away from Chevy’s bigger trucks, the Silverado and GMC Sierra.

chart2.jpg

Not surprisingly, Ford is thinking about restarting the Ranger and chasing GM back into the smaller pickup market. Four years ago, the decision to park the Ranger appeared prudent and disciplined. But it came in concert with a rare set of conditions in the U.S. car market: a real estate boom, a big drop in gas prices, stagnantly low interest rates. Ford could probably make a pickup out of old Pintos in this environment, and Americans would buy it.
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Simmy

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It really is a shame they let Toyota edge into a market that Ford knows and does so well. Now if a new Bronco, if it ever gets made will be fighting an uphill battle with deeply entrenched players. Not even stalwarts like the Jeep but now the Tacoma is a force to reckon with in sales figures.
 

fourbyfour

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Just look at that chart. If that's not good enough reason for Ford to jump back in with the Bronco and Renegade I dunno what is. Don't let the foreign makers make all the money on a segment that US companies pioneered!
 

broncojohn

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As far as a small pickup commercial applications comes first in my opinion . Look at any service delivery such as a O'Reilly auto parts or NAPA,they all have small trucks. Even more business offer delivery
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