Ford is Reviving a Class

Trucks have gotten bigger in the past several years. Evidence of this can be found if you place some of the trucks that were on the roads in the 1980s next to the trucks we see today.

The half-ton trucks have grown significantly, but the area of the market where trucks have truly grown is the midsize truck market. If you look at a Ford Ranger or Chevrolet S-10 from the 1980s next to the new Ford Ranger and Chevrolet Colorado, the trucks we have today would dwarf those of the previous decades.

Leaving Room for Shrinkage by Ford

We admire the trucks of today and the added size and capability offered, but there’s still something intriguing and attractive about a compact truck. When you need a small truck for the occasional ability to move large items that wouldn’t fit in a vehicle that has a covered rear area, the smallest you can find right now is in the midsize class. Ford may have an alternative to this situation on the way to give us a truck that’s smaller than what we currently enjoy driving. With this new truck, Ford could be reviving the compact truck class which would then give us three areas of passenger trucks to choose from.

The Ford Courier is Spied

While we don’t know if the name of the truck will be the Courier, some rumors have given this truck the name and it seems to make sense for now. Even without a name, a new small truck has been spied on the Ford testing facility to show off a truck that’s clad in a ton of camouflage. While we can’t see the full details of the body, and Ford has tried to disguise this new vehicle as a van, it was confirmed to be a truck that’s under the coverings.

This little truck appears to be riding on the new Ford Focus platform which allows us to imagine this truck could be a unibody model that would be easy to drive on any road. The drive could be one that feels more like a car or SUV while giving you the ability to carry and haul more of the items you need to with you when you take it for a ride. The expected powertrain will use a four-cylinder engine with turbocharging to be an efficient choice when it’s time to drive.

It’s Still Early, But…

Even though it’s still early in the process and we don’t know what the new Ford truck will be or what class it will be part of, if this truck does come to the market, it will open the doors for a new level of capability on the smaller end. Ford has shown a strong commitment to trucks and SUVs (like the Ford Escape for sale at a local dealership near you) for the future and opening a new class makes sense. Besides, we seem to like our SUVs smaller than ever before, so why not have smaller trucks as well to open up the rear and offer the capability of a little truck?