We reported last week that a new small Ford truck might be coming, and a Ford executive confirmed the news yesterday at a conference in Detroit. The truck might also be called the Courier. Hopefully it looks as good as the old Courier or Bantam. Will it come to America? Maybe! We can only hope.
Car and Driver said that it might last year, and now Automotive News says that the truck will, indeed, be coming, to, if not the U.S., elsewhere. It’s coming along with other unknown (as for now) nameplates.
Speaking about the automaker’s pickup strategy at the Deutsche Bank Global Auto Industry Conference in Detroit, Farley said Ford is “investing in more affordable versions of our truck business” and that “you can expect new nameplates below where we compete today.”
Farley did not offer a time frame for the new product.
A Ford spokesman declined further comment but said “we’ll have more details to share about new nameplates in the future.”
The timeframe for the new small truck is sometime in 2022, if Automobile is to be believed. This all makes sense, in a way, as Ford pivots away from sedans and more towards trucks and SUVs, though the U.S. market has been pivoting away from anything small for awhile now.
In any case, I hope the new small truck is like the Courier, which was sold in Brazil up until 2013, and is about the same length (175 inches) as my old 1991 Chevy S-10, which I consider close to the ideal vehicle. Trucks have only grown monstrously since then, with the new Ranger coming in at a hulking 210 inches.
But smaller is better for obvious reasons. You get better gas mileage, and, despite what you might think, they are still large enough to be practical. They’re also useful for when your friends ask for rides. Sorry, chief, this car only fits two at most.