OK, more Ranger/Mazda B series truck news. Just days after the anouncement of the new Ranger in Bankok, to nobody's surprise, Mazda unveiled their new BT-50 pickup.
It's identical to the new Ranger, and built in the same plant. So you'll notice the styling and specs are very close. The name change to BT-50 is supposed to designate it's half way status between a small truck and a large truck. Much is being made about it's 1 ton payload capacity. I think that's metric ton.
Styling is just as nice as the ranger. If you want to read more on it, here are several sites doing reviews;Bangkok Post CarKeys UK CarGuide Australia Car Today, South AfricaAll the reveiws a glowing, as this new Ranger/BT-50 are great trucks.
4 comments:
Autoblog's got the Indian Ranger SORV...What da heck. Is Ford giving up on America?
Shawn, that's exactly what I want to know. First the Focus situation, then the Panther platform (Crown Vic, Grand Marquie, Town Car), the Ranger and the death of SVT. Is Ford giving up on North America? Look at all the new product being rolled out in Europe and the rest of the world. It's obvious they can design and build interesting competative vehicles. But what do we get?
I'll tell you what we get CRAP! plain and simple! You can bet if we get any version of anything from Ford Europe or Asia we will get the cheap replica looking version that has been detuned so bad that a golf cart will be faster.
Nah, while still not stellar, Ford is getting better in America. The Focus' reliability has been brought up to par and it is a very nice handling & economical car. The Fusion has good 1st year reliability and also handles nice, though fuel economy is kinda low. While the slow, rough riding Mustang V6 has been redesigned into a reliability nightmare, the V8 is very quick and has ok reliability & handling. GM OTOH, still seems to be seeing how much longer they can lie about the quality of their cars.
Unless you want to haul massive payloads or just want something that looks different, I don't see the BT50 as much of an improvement over the Ranger. Same suspension, and the USA wouldn't get that diesel engine.
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