This week at the North American International Auto Show Ford announced that it will bring the Ranger back to America in 2019.
Now Ford has been a little reluctant to bring it back because it thought the Ranger was just too close in size to the F-150, but as you can see b y the F-150 behind me.
This truck has basically gone way past the mid-size range.
And Ford is losing market share to trucks like the Chevy Colorado and the Toyota Tacoma.
But Ford's problem is our gain.
And what will this Ranger look like?
Let's speculate a bit, shall we?
The Ranger in Europe has three diesel variants.
Two with the displacement of 2.2 liters for 330 or 385 pound feet of torque.
And there's also a larger 2.3 liter diesel for 470 feet of torque.
While it would be awesome to have those kinds of oil burning options here in the States, we'll probably only get one diesel option and it may be the powerstroke diesel from the F-150 albeit something with a smaller displacement.
In terms of gas engine options, we'll probably see a smallish four cylinder choice, which would likely produce close to 200 horsepower.
But to beat the competition, Ford's gonna need to up the ante with some six cylinder choices as well.
A naturally aspirated 3.5 liter V6 would probably produce produce power and torque in the mid 200s, and if we're lucky, we may see the 2.7 liter eco-boost.
In the F150 that's good for 325 horsepower and 375 pound speed of torque, which should be plenty to motivate that smaller truck around town.
In Europe the Ranger get a six speed manual, but yeah, that's probably is not happening here in the states, I'm assuming we're gonna get a six speed automatic.
I would expect the tech to roll over from the F-150, including adaptive cruise control, possibly with the start/stop capabilities, lane keeping technology, forward collision alert, and front and rear parking assist.
The ranger can tow up to 7700 pounds, and that should remain the same for the US version.
In Europe you can have the option of a five, six, or seven and a half foot bed.
Now competition like the Chevy Colorado only offers a five or six foot bed, so Ford my opt to keep that super long box just to get a leg up on the competition.
>Frankly I've been excited at the possibility of seeing a Ford Ranger on the streets of the United States and more importantly on the non-streets of the United States.
That's right let's take this baby off road.
We'll see what happens in 2019.
In the meantime, you can find more information over at theroadshow.com.
