Ford Ranger sales slide along with bigger trucks
June 5, 2008 – 8:19 am | by adminSales of Ford’s Ranger fell nearly 25 percent last month, as the St. Paul-made pickup suffered in the face of a dramatic drop-off in demand for trucks across the industry.
Ford sold 7,239 Rangers in May, versus 9,608 in the same month last year.
Sales of trucks and SUV fell nationwide as consumers turned away from fuel-guzzling vehicles in favor of more efficient models. Toyota’s Camry and Corolla cars both outsold Ford’s larger F-series trucks, the market leader for nearly two decades.
The Ranger had made some gains in recent months, on the strength of price incentives and fuel economy that’s better than the larger Ford trucks.
The St. Paul assembly plant that makes the Ranger is currently scheduled to close in the fall of 2009.
Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said that the Ranger might be revived in some form - he spoke to reporters in Washington about an updated Ranger truck or a smaller F-150 - in a response to higher oil prices. But there’s no indication that the automaker is thinking of building such a vehicle in the Twin Cities.