Ford's Mid-Sized Ranger: It's Not a Work Truck; It's the Have-Fun Truck

This wasn39t always the case The Ranger39s big brother is the F150 the bestselling vehicle in America for the past 36 years While Americans were once satisfied with smaller pickups amp8212 remember the highly popular Japanese minitrucks of the 1970s and 1980s amp8212 the trend has been to either go big or go massiveBut the midsized truck market is picking up sales have increased 83 percent since 2014 And that persuaded Ford to bring back the Ranger a nameplate that had been dormant since 2012 when sales were a dismal 19000 In part the new interest is driven by cost since the average transaction price for the F150 is a whopping 48000 Edmunds reports The Ranger averages in the mid30000s which is about the average transaction for American vehicles The tester amp8212 loaded with features such as a sprayedin bedliner technology package and 2800 worth of equipment group options amp8212 bottomlines at 42005The Ranger actually goes back to 1982 as its own series and was initially priced at 6203 affordable even adjusted for inflation Facelifted 1993amp82111997 models were bestsellers Ford dealers moved more than 300000 each yearThere39s a size creep in the auto industry and the Ranger kept growing amp8212 effectively erasing the distinction between it and the F150 The customer wanted bigger so they gravitated upmarket and the Ranger languished People often buy vehicles larger than they need sizing for scenarios that are likely to occur only once a year fourwheel drive for that rare snow a threerow SUV that helps out at the family reunion And they39re not likely to be deterred from that behaviorBrian Bell Ford F150 and Ranger marketing manager said in a MediaVillage interview that the market for compact and midsize trucks quotgot very small very quicklyquot but then started to come back He said that F150 and the Ranger have very different buyer profiles with the Ranger being the fun vehicle to the F15039s work truck Todd Eckert Ford truck group marketing manager has characterized the Ranger buyer as someone who quotdrives his truck to work not for workquotMy test truck a crew cab model with room for five could certainly serve as an allpurpose family vehicle It39s significantly bigger than the original 1982 version with a 1268inch wheelbase instead of 108 inches The Ranger is 34 inches longer and 15 inches wider than the model released when Ronald Reagan was in the White House But crucially it fits in a standard parking space doesn39t require a ladder to enter and has a reasonable load heightAn interesting thing about the Ranger is that it doesn39t have the usual blizzard of trim levels there are just three and engine options In fact there39s just one motor a 23liter EcoBoost producing 270 horsepower and connected to a 10speed automatic In a tested form it delivers a combined 22 mpg not exceptional by any means but not terrible for a truck eitherThe offering seems to be working with combined Ranger and F150 sales delivering in the second quarter their secondbest showing since 2004 The Ranger sold 20880 units though the FSeries was far ahead with 233787 Yeartodate sales for the Ranger after the second quarter were 30301Ford39s Ranger campaign emphasizes outdoor adventure A promotional photo shows an outdoorsy guy and his son unloading mountain bikes in snow countryThe campaign quotTough Has More Funquot uses 15 athletes who quotfollow their passion for adventure across the USquot filmed by Outside TV In one ad we see the scary sport of base jumping in an Arizona canyon with the Ranger as the chase vehicle Another ad shows snow surfers coming down a mountain near Seattle the prominently displayed Ranger gets them to untouched powder The ads are being shown on TV and in movie theaters as well as being displayed on social media The YouTube versions are two minutes long highlighting destinations such as Boston Denver and Phoenix and each has more than a million viewsChad Callander Ranger consumer marketing manager told MediaVillage that Ford worked with Outside magazine and its multimedia arm to find the right cities and adventurers for the videos quotIt turned out very well and has been very well receivedquot he said quotIt39s resonating with potential customers who are adventurespirited peoplequotThe ads skew really young but current Ranger buyers do not According to JD Power quotOverwhelmingly men buy these vehicles 89 percent Their median age is 58 and they earn a median annual household income of 101820 Nearly a third 29 percent say they are retired Most midsize pickup owners agree that they prefer to buy from a domestic company 59 percentquotBell attributes the age of current buyers to quotloyal customers who have been waiting for the truck to come back into the market It39s not surprising to see those demographics in the early stagesquot So it looks like the ads featuring 20somethings have a lot of work to doBell pointed out that Ford is not so much targeting a particular age group for the Ranger but an idea quotWe conducted research in places like Los Angeles Phoenix and Boston and the midsize truck buyers like to use their vehicles to get out and recharge their batteries ignite their passionsamp8230 The truck is the most important part of their adventure gearquotOf course some buyers will go with the Ranger because they aspire to an adventure lifestyle not because they39re currently engaged in it The same potential amp8212 the ability to go offroading though only 10 percent of SUV buyers actually do motivated millions of sport utility salesWhen asked about its channel mix for the Ranger Bell said that Ford doesn39t break out its media spend quotTV is important but we39re definitely aiming for a bigger social media presence Social is key for the Ranger We did a prelaunch event on Facebookquot Target sales level quotAs many as we can plus a few morequot he said Based on initial sales the prospects look goodI have no doubt that my Ranger would get me to the top of a basejumping canyon if I had even the slightest desire to go there But instead it works just fine for dump runs car towing and furniture moving amp8212 in the city and its suburbsPhotos courtesy of Jim MotavalliClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Ford's Mid-Sized Ranger: It's Not a Work Truck; It's the Have-Fun Truck

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Jim Motavalli

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Ford's Mid-Sized Ranger: It's Not a Work Truck; It's the Have-Fun Truck

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