Thought the 2019 Ranger would be the smallest pickup Ford wants to build? Think again. According to a report from Automotive News, Ford president Jim Farley confirmed plans to build a pickup both sized and priced below the new Ranger.
Right now, only scant details exist, but Automotive News reports the subcompact pickup will ride on an extended wheelbase version of the Ford Focus Active and hit the road in 2022. As for what will power the micro-utility vehicle, it’s still up in the air. Up until 2013, Ford sold a Fiesta-based pickup in South America named the Courier and Ford recently trademarked that name in the US. It’s a fair assumption that’ll be the model name we get.
The compact pickup isn’t exactly a new frontier for the US market, but its history has mixed results. The Mazda B-Series pickups ceased production in 2009, three years after the more recognizable Subaru Baja called it quits. Both those trucks were close to what the supposed Courrier is attempting to achieve, but their sales numbers were too dismal for them to survive. Both came along at odd times too. The Mazda was a small, basic pickup in a world where trucks were increasing in size and levels of technology and luxury. And Subaru’s Outback-based Baja was just that — a weirder version of a segment already on the outs in terms of popularity in the US.
Considering the compact SUV craze at the moment, it’s entirely possible Ford’s crossover-based pickup could sell well enough to justify its existence. But, then again, it might be too weird or too niche for its own good.
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