Europeans get to drive this beauty, and we in the States are left with bupkis.

[MrScorpio]

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/2016-ford-ranger-prepares-to-hit-european-showrooms-104367.html#

If I could afford it, I'd love to trade my current Ranger in for this baby!

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. Pretty

[underahedgerow]

2. It's too big for most European streets & roads, and rather pointless and not fuel

efficient.

My guess is that most buyers will be very young and stupid rich US fans and ex-pats. Regular working people wouldn't waste money on a car like this.

Dunno what people need such big vehicles for. It doesn't get you there any faster or in any more different manner than any other vehicle and sure costs a heck of a lot more to own, insure and operate.

European mentality about cars is completely different than in the US. Cars are normally about getting from point A to point B in relative safety and comfort. Parking is a real issue in cities, parking spaces are geared towards smaller cars. Roads are narrow. People don't equate their cars with their identity. Even the wealthiest people have little run around cars that they keep for years... They usually have a posh car too, but not for every day chores. It's about function over form.

As a utility type vehicle it's not logical. Construction workers use vans, which make more sense; you can fit a lot more in them, don't have to unload them at night and can lock up all your goods for safety.

[Tobin S.]

3. Check out the link.

The Ford Ranger was the best selling truck in Europe last year. The new model gets 36 mpg.

I don't know if you are familiar with Ford Rangers. They are compact pickup trucks. They are bigger than a compact car, but they aren't huge like the full size pickups so popular here in the states. The article says that a new Ranger goes for about 27,000 euros.

[underahedgerow]

5. They sold a total of 15,000 trucks in the EU last year, and we allllll know that MPG

numbers are totally bogus, Ford has been caught up in the same issues as VW along with most car companies.

I know the Ranger, have owned Ford trucks and wouldn't ever own them again. We always called them Fix Or Repair Daily. They consistently have manufacturing flaws. These might not be 'huge', but they're still bigger than standard cars, which honestly don't exist much in the EU. It's either compact in the majority or utility vehicles which are also relatively compact.

Premium compact cars constitute nearly a million cars in annual sales in the EU, with the BMW group near the top of the list. Nissan has a great hold on the mid-size SUV market with over a million.

27K is a lot for a vehicle, when a standard work van goes for under 10K.

It's the mentality. The majority of people are middle income, and a car is a necessary tool and not considered an investment. People here realize the value of a car drops completely once it's off the lot. They totally get that financing a car at a huge interest rate is the stupidest thing someone can ever spend money on. It makes no sense to buy a car listed at 20K, and for 5 years pay an interest rate that costs nearly as much as the car, so that in 5 years, when the car is worth just 7K, that you've paid 30K for it.

Makes more sense to buy a used car for cash or on a low interest, short term loan, pay it off and take good care of it, and drive it until it dies.

If I'm looking for a work vehicle, I can get a used Kangoo Klima for under 5000 bucks, and an 11 year old one for under 3000. They run great!

[Tobin S.]

7. European sales of Ford Ranger were 27,300 last year.

Which is still not a lot but its a lot more than 15,000.

http://left-lane.com/european-car-sales-data/ford/ford-ranger/

That's for non-commercial vehicle sales. When you are comparing pickup trucks to cargo vans in Europe you are really comparing apples to oranges. Most vans sold in Europe are for commercial enterprise and new ones cost a lot more than 10,000 euros. A new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter costs about $36,000 here in the US. Sprinters that are five or six years old are still going for $20,000 according to edmunds.com.

http://www.edmunds.com/mercedes-benz/sprinter/

Fuel mileage varies with the driving habits of the owner of the vehicle. If you don't drive with your gas pedal to the floor, you can probably hit manufacturer fuel mileage estimates without much trouble. I have a 2010 Honda Civic that's rated at 36 MPG on the highway and I've actually gotten 40 out of it on a long trip with the cruise set at 65 miles per hour.

I won't argue with the economics of financing a new car, but I will say that most people in America do not see a vehicle as an investment unless it is a commercial vehicle. Your average American doesn't make a lot of money either. My wife and I are working class and we have a 6 year old car and a 13 year old car that are paid off. We plan on keeping them as long as we can. That's much more common where we live than the person who buys a new car every three years.

[kentauros]

4. Farmers aren't going to use vans.

Who wants to smell that whole load of manure in a van?

Also, the competition to the Ranger is the Toyota Hilux. That's known as the Tacoma here. It's another compact pickup and a big seller over there.

Here's one reason why:

[underahedgerow]

6. Simple, trailer hitch and a wagon. Who puts manure in their own vehicle?

Heck, we never did that, ever, back in the day on the farm. I've never seen a Toyota truck of any sort here, actually.... Just the vans.

Farm vehicles are farm vehicles, small tractors especially, not your own personal truck!

[kentauros]

8. So, was Top Gear making up the fact that they bought that Hilux from a farm?

Also, why would Toyota advertise the Hilux as a farm vehicle if no one ever buys them for their farms?

And guess what, people do use the beds of their pickups for everything, including manure. If you can afford a trailer, sure, use that. But if you don't want to go to the hassle of getting it out, hooking it up, and then loading it up, when you could have done a full load in the bed of your pickup by that time, then you're thinking like someone who owns a pickup truck

Pickup trucks were built and intended to be used as utility vehicles. If you're thinking no one would use their "personal" truck for utility purposes, then you've spent too much time in the US (where they've become status symbols, incredulously.)