At the risk of inspiring another "dead horse" response I'm gonna express my opinion here. If the internet is good for absolutely nothing else, it allows us to do exactly that. Anyway, here goes...
For most of my lifetime I have been a Ford guy. No, make that all my life. I used to despise GM because, in my opinion, they were the perfect example of corporate arrogance. For many, many years GM had the attitude that if they built it a large percentage of consumers would buy it, regardless of whether or not it was the right vehicle for their needs or even whether or not it was a quality vehicle. And for a long time they were neither but people still bought them like a herd of cattle going to water.
I hate to have to say this and I never thought I would feel this way, but Ford, at least when it comes to trucks, has taken over the corporate arrogant A-hole crown.
Let's face it, why do so many of the members here still have their Sport Tracs even though Ford hasn't made one for four years? For me it's for two reasons. First and foremost it's because I like it, probably more than any other vehicle I have ever owned. No, it's not the most fuel efficient truck out there and I can't carry a sheet of plywood in the bed. But it is more versatile than other types of vehicles in almost every other regard. The other reason is the one that really bothers me. It's because it's a damn Ford and I'm a lifer. I can't help it, I'm addicted. So why don't I just swallow my pride and buy an F-150? Even though its the only light truck Ford will let me buy it's just too damn BIG. If Ford comes out with some pretend "truck" based on the Transit Connect or Focus I would not be interested in that either because it would be useless for the same things I CAN do with my Sport Trac. What makes all this even more disgusting is the fact that Ford DOES have the truck in it's line-up that I would buy in a heartbeat if they would just get over their arrogance and fear of losing the F-150's sales crown and sell it here.
That truck is the T6 Ranger that IS sold in 180 or so other countries. I've heard all the excuses about why that can't happen but in my opinion they are all BS. Ford has, what, about 500 different CUV/SUV models in every imaginable size but they can only justify one size truck...HUGE! Really? What ever happened to all that "One Ford" nonsense? You know, the one where they said they were going to sell every model in every market? I guess it only applies when the stock holders and corporate executives get what they want...customers be damned...:sad::soap: