What’s old is new again... Ford Courier
 

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New Compact Ford Pickup

https://jalopnik.com/new-compact-for...por-1842219589



Ford shows its dealers the sub-Ranger pickup it hopes will replace sedans

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/09/...p-focus-based/




The Circle of Life...


:turtle:

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1983 body? I got that in my '88

Gonna have to paint it afer all

A front wheel drive, unibody mini truck in the usa? Saw these all over Australia and south africa years ago. Some even had small diesel engines. Often wondered why they didnt just bring those to the usa.

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You mean like this...???



Here’s the $12,000 pickup truck we don’t get in America.


https://jalopnik.com/heres-the-12-00...ame-1842244435

Similar to the Australian model.



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These were here, some with diesels. Too young to remember or too old?

http://smclassiccars.com/uploads/pos...r-engine-1.JPG

https://cdn.bringatrailer.com/wp-con...16-940x588.jpg

https://s3-prod.autoweek.com/s3fs-pu...-Brat-GL-3.jpg

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1583959443

Comment: "It’s easy to make cheap things cheaply it turns out."

Are they talking about GM in general? :D

The cheapest pickup available new in the U.S. is the 2019 Nissan Frontier: $20,385 with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder, a five-speed manual, 152 hp, and 171 lb-ft of torque. However, the payload is a mere 900 pounds. The Montana is rated for 1,687 pounds!

Ooh, that might suit me well. Easy to throw a mountain bike in the back. I hope it has 4 seats though

Forget the Montana, I'm sure the upcoming Ford unibody truck will be more similar to the Fiat Toro.


AFAIK the ones in Australia were still RWD, while in South Africa many of the trucklets are FWD. Fiat and GM have even exported some from Brazil to South Africa.

The small pick-up market in Europe has vanished all together
Replaced by small vans like the Caddy - originally also on a Golf/Rabbit platform

More useful, optionally with windows & seats in the back, they make very good and useful allround vehicles in the original MPV style.

Lots of space on a car-like footprint

If it gets the same 50mpg as the rabbit pickup it might be a win

So they are trying to capture sales lost to the most excellent ~45 MPG Fusion by offering a ~25 MPG pickup?

Frank Lee at Permalink #5

Three excellent examples. The Dodge used two-door doors where the Rabbit used four-door doors. More better for ingress/egress.

I knew a guy who had one with utility boxes on both sides of the bed. That tonneau cover is novel.

https://cdn.bringatrailer.com/wp-con...16-940x588.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Rampage
The only thing it's missing is the Gen II BRAT T-tops.

It had been recently rumored that Ford was considering to turn the Fusion into another crossover SUV. Well, after Ford turned back at its intention to bring the 4th-generation Focus as a crossover in the American market, I wouldn't be really surprised if a next generation of the Mondeo/Fusion becomes available only with the liftback and station-wagon bodystyles, which presumably are easier to follow an approach similar to what Subaru does with the Outback.

I presume interior space as well. I distinctly recall trying a VW pickup on for size and the seat did not go far back enough which I thought was an astonishingly stupid oversight for a vehicle supposedly designed in America. VW easily could have been like the Chrysler and started with the two-door cab with it's couple of extra inches.

When 2-door cars became less common in Brazil, local trucklets started to resort to an approach similar to an extended-cab, even though only the Fiat Strada and the current generation of the Volkswagen Saveiro have been available with an extended cab at all.

Most pickup owners (if what I see driving around is any indication) seem to actually want something with 4 doors and a covered cargo area.

I welcome this new smaller truck, but I expect we'll see many of them as crew cab short bed with a topper or bed cover.

Basically this:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...mL._UY560_.jpg

I saw a HD crew cab long box yesterday with TWO PEOPLE in it! :eek:

That must be near it's capacity!

I'm sure it might be quite challenging to convince the average Joe that a small van like that could actually fare better than an open-box truck, more due to the cultural aspect than anything else. What does surprise me is most automakers not offering anything with a similar layout in my country, throwing either those crossover SUVs or some small pick-up which would require an aftermarket fiberglass top.

That particular vehicle isn't actually made in the US; it's built in Europe and imported. To avoid the Chicken Tax, it's shipped overseas with backseats and then they're removed and shipped back to Europe.

Not to mention its U.S.-spec engine is larger than any of the Euro-spec ones.


AFAIK it was not allowed to ship the seats and windows back to Europe, they had to be sent for some recycling facility in America, otherwise Ford wouldn't be able to circumvent the Chicken Tax.

This seems like lunacy to me. There is a cost to the planet in resources, energy, shipping and labor to make seats and glass only to remove and “recycle” them to avoid the tax. I found this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

And this amusing short video by NPR: https://youtu.be/GnGLTThwpLU

It costs Ford several hundred dollars per vehicle but saves them paying a 25% tariff on each vehicle. It appears vehicles manufactured in Mexico and Canada are exempt. No wonder our U.S. roads are filled with full sized American trucks being used as commuter cars.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MiZ-UqDwf6...k%2BGL%2B2.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MiZ-UqDwf6...k%2BGL%2B2.jpg
Subaru mocked the Chicken Tax with the BRAT. The seats had to stay in until the warranty ran out. Roll bar optional, but they did provide four grab handles to keep the passengers in the bed.

I had a manager with two unruly teenagers. When she needed a car, I suggested a BRAT and let them compete for the indoor shotgun seat.

Subaru needs to bring back the Baja. Turbo only.

There, I said it.

In Cali, the seats had to stay in while the truck was registered as a car. Take the seats out, you had to buy commercial plates which were 3 times expensive. Same deal with my dodge surfer van.

Sometimes I wish it was as easy as before '99 to have jump-seats registered to a truck here in Brazil. Well, I guess those crew-cab versions of the Fiat Strada and Volkswagen Saveiro would've never happened if one could be allowed to get jump-seats on them and simply add a fiberglass canopy (and maybe a swamp-cooler like the ones widely used by truckers here).