So Ford has quit the car game, minus the Mustang and whatever the Focus Active is supposed to be. Purists weep, gearheads point fingers and make arguments and the public continues to eat up anything that isn’t a standard-sized, normal sedan that isn’t full of fire and brimstone under the hood. Life moves on. But Ford isn’t just content on shutting up shop with cars…instead, they are going for broke on trucks and crossovers, and it’s one bit of news that has started to float around that has captured some interest: a potential compact pickup truck that would be smaller than the upcoming Ranger, but would be smaller than the Ford Fiesta-based Ford Courier pickup truck sold between 1998-2003 in Brazillian markets.
It is interesting to see how everything old is becoming new again, because from where we are sitting, it appears that Ford is toying with the idea of what will eventually become a coupe utility. The company has recent experience with them, with not only the Courier but the recently-departed Ford Falcon ute sold by Ford Australia. The nearest vehicle of this kind that Ford sold in the U.S. market was the 1972-1982 Courier pickup truck, a rebadged Mazda B-series pickup truck. The last coupe utility that Ford sold domestically was the 1979 Ford Ranchero…and maybe a handful of third-party built Ford Durangos (a Fairmont Futura with a pickup bed conversion.)
Brazillian-market 1997 Ford Courier.
Is the U.S. market ready for a tiny coupe utility, though? If the Fiesta platfom is going to be the basis for this upcoming mystery truck, then it’s going to better imagine it as Ford’s take on the Dodge Rampage than anything else. Would it be a two-door truck, like the Brazillian Courier, or would it be a four-door sedan-ish thing with a cubby of a bed? Would anybody even buy one? Would you?
Wow, that’s awful.
Imagine if they pulled their heads out: picture a 2wd/4wd Ranger with an available long bed and a small twinturbo v6 (probably also an optional engine, not the standard).
Instead, what they’re likely to make will be along the lines of a shrunken Avalanche… basically take one of their small SUV’s and remove the hatch/trunk area, and put a “bed” in. Said bed likely won’t hold a sheet of plywood or any furniture larger than a stepstool.
Shame that there were so few actually reasonably decent small trucks ever made.
If they did the New Courier as a crossover…like a Subaru Outback Baja, from the mid 2000’s…it might work.
I’ve often wondered…when the truck boom started…in the late 90’s…why didn’t one of these companies…just bring their UTE’s from Australia over?
We would have ate them up.
Ford had a capable, unibody pick up…it was called the Falcon, built in Australia could be had with a 4.0L turbo 6 or 5.0 V8 and could carry 1000kg of things.
And Dearborn didn’t want it.
And that’s what confuses me about, what goes on in Detroit Boardrooms
I’m not sure why the traditional “mini-truck” died out. They were cheap, reliable and were everywhere. Very useful. We need these to come back in their original size. There is a market for truck size below current mid-size offerings.