Report: Compact Unibody Ford Pickup Replacing Fiesta and Focus in Lineup
A tiny truck, possibly named Courier or Ranchero, is likely to fill in the void left by Ford's small cars.
We've heard a lot of rumors about Ford developing a small, car-like unibody pickup truck that it might actually sell here as well as abroad. If history is any indication, the trucklet could use the "Courier" name and ride Ford's wave of new truck and SUV launches in the coming years. A fresh new Automotive News report adds a few details to that story line and includes the company's thinking behind where the little truck would slot following a meeting in which company execs showed the new vehicle to dealers.
That all is more detail on this vehicle than we had previously, although we must reiterate that the small Ford pickup has been a poorly kept secret for a while. Ford's rapidly changing model plans—remember the Subaru Crosstrek-style Ford Focus Active? Oh, you've already forgotten!—have kept the P758's positioning in flux. But, if you consider the company's international footprint, things start to come into focus (no pun intended). In other markets, Ford has sold a Fiesta-based unibody pickup and van called the Courier, a historic name that was once attached to a badge-engineered Mazda pickup sold in the U.S. in the 1970s while the original Ranger was under development.
That Fiesta-based Courier went out of production in 2013, but still today there are plenty of markets where little vans and delivery trucks are very popular. Back in 2018, we reported that what we now know as P758 was in development to replace the Brazilian-built Courier. It'd be larger than the previous vehicle, which was tiny, so that bodes well for both European and especially American markets. In fact, it'd be Focus based, which seems like the right platform to choose for a trucklet that'll slot below the new Ranger. Besides, the Transit Connect work van was originally spun off the Focus platform, and therefore might offer a decent starting point for the truck.
So, how much cheaper would a P758 be than the Ranger? Automotive News says that Ford is aiming to price the P758 $5,000 under the Ranger, which currently starts at around $25,000. The small pickup would be built in Mexico, and annual production volume could be as high as 100,000 units. Despite the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal's stricter requirements for North American-sourced component contents, the Ford trucklet will almost certainly still avoid the so-called Chicken Tax tariffs that hobble low-cost truck imports from outside the trade zone.