Ford Is Reportedly Considering a Small Car-Based Pickup for America
This Ford ute would be the only one of its kind on the U.S. market.
Ford knows a thing or two about selling pickup trucks in these United States. The truck giant sold just shy of 900,000 F-Series trucks in this country alone last year, and it’s on track to surpass that in 2018. Incidentally, they're the only trucks that Ford currently sells in its home market. We know that’s about to change with the forthcoming Ranger mid-size pickup, and now it sounds like something a little less conventional could be joining the Blue Oval's truck lineup here at home.
Automobile reports that as Ford updates its old Fiesta-based Courier subcompact pickup, previously built in Brazil and sold in foreign markets, the automaker is "considering" bringing the new model to the U.S. in the next five years. Its sources say that the next-gen small truck will be based on the new Focus platform, so think of it as a pickup variant of the Focus Active that will be arriving next year.
At that small size, we’re not exactly talking about a Honda Ridgeline competitor here, the only other unibody pickup truck sold in America. In fact, it sounds like it would be more like the old Subaru Baja, but hopefully not as ugly.
We reached out to Ford asking for comment and we didn't get confirmation on a new ute coming to the States. What Ford did tell us is that the brand is "significantly expanding our North America lineup with all-new vehicles and entering new segments with fresh designs and white space silhouettes that will position us for even more growth."
While “Courier” is a likely contender for the name of this ute, we're with Automobile in crossing our fingers that Ford will bring back the old Ranchero name from its car-based pickup that ran from 1957-1979. We already know Ford is open to bringing back old names like Bronco and Ranger, so why not throw a Ranchero in the mix?