Ford considering bringing back Ranger pickup, Bronco SUV to North America

The last Ford Ranger pickup truck built in North America rolls off the assembly line in December, 2011 (photo: Ford)

Ford Motor Company is considering bringing a compact or midsize Ford Ranger pickup truck, and maybe even a Bronco SUV, back to the North American market, according to a report from the Detroit News.

Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant will no longer turn out the brand's Focus and C-Max vehicle lines after 2018, and so the company has begun talks with the United Auto Workers union (UAW), which represents the plant's workers, about a contract regarding what could be built in the departing vehicles' place.

Among the proposals Ford is seriously considering is a new Ranger pickup, according to reports from both the Detroit News and Bloomberg. The Ranger was last built and sold in North America in late 2011. Bloomberg says that Ford may also be looking at introducing a new Bronco to the plant's output to keep it at full capacity.

Ford currently builds Ranger-branded trucks for markets abroad, though that vehicle is substantially larger than the compact pickup North Americans are used to seeing wearing the badge. The 2015 Australian-market Ranger, for example, is 15 inches longer than the 2012 North American Regular Cab Ranger, and weighs some 700 pounds more.

Ford has been considering bringing back a smaller Ranger to the U.S. and Canada for a few years now, according to executives there, specifically something roughly the size of the old Ranger, with significantly better gas mileage than Ford's full-size F-150, and a price point approximately $5,000 less than the bigger truck.

Rival American automaker General Motors re-introduced the midsize Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks to the North American market for the 2015 model year after a three year hiatus and has seen strong early sales.