Ford Motor Company (F) Isn’t Missing the Ranger

The midsize truck segment disappears
If Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s strong gains in the full-size truck segment don’t convince you that the Ranger is no longer needed in Ford’s vehicle portfolio, take a look at the midsize truck market. Ford, GM (the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon), and Chrysler (the Dodge Dakota) have all exited the U.S. midsize truck market in the past two years, although General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is planning to launch a new midsize truck next year.

Despite the disappearance of all those competitors, sales of the segment-leading Toyota Tacoma have remained fairly slow. Last month, Toyota sold just 14,727 Tacoma trucks, which was in line with the sales pace for the past several months. Including the full-size Tundra, Toyota sold fewer than 25,000 trucks in the U.S., a small fraction of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s truck sales.

Other small trucks have fared even worse. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NSANY) sold 6,570 Frontier trucks last month, while Honda Motor Co Ltd (NYSE:HMC) only managed to move 1,626 Ridgeline pickups in May. Clearly, most American truck buyers do not miss the midsize trucks that have disappeared very much. Rather than buying the midsize trucks built by Japanese automakers, these customers have opted for full-size pickups, vans, cars, and crossovers.

Foolish conclusion
While Ford continues to grow sales of its F-Series trucks, the midsize truck segment is virtually disappearing in the U.S. Sales of the top three small trucks (Tacoma, Frontier, and Ridgeline) combined were less than a third of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F)’s F-Series sales last month!  While Toyota is benefiting a bit from Detroit’s disappearance from the midsize truck segment — Tacoma sales were up 20% year over year in May — the segment as a whole is still shrinking.

The changing dynamics of the U.S. truck market have given a ringing endorsement to Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s decision to focus on selling F-Series trucks in the U.S. Rather than offering a cheap, low-volume, midsize pickup that cannibalizes profitable F-Series sales, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is directing would-be Ranger buyers to other vehicles in its portfolio. So far, Ford isn’t missing the Ranger at all.

The article Ford Isn’t Missing the Ranger originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Adam Levine-Weinberg has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ford and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM). The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford.

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