The Ford Ranger is a nameplate that has been used on three distinct model lines of vehicles. Originally, the name was used by the short-lived Edsel Ranger car, then it later a version of the Ford F-Series pickup truck sold in North America between model year 1965 and 1981 that denoted a styling package. Ford repurposed the name "Ranger" in 1982 for the 1983 model year for a compact pickup truck sold in North America and later parts of South America.
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is a nameplate that has been used on three distinct model lines of vehicles sold by Ford. Originally, the name was used by the short-lived Edsel Ranger car, then it later referred to a version of the Ford F-Series pickup truck sold in North America between model year 1965 and 1981 that denoted a styling package. Ford repurposed the name "Ranger" in 1982 for the 1983 model year for a compact pickup truck sold in North America and later parts of South America. Since 1998, Ford has offered a separate model of Ranger sold internationally.
North America
The Ford Ranger is a compact pickup truck that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company from 1983 to 2012 model years for North America; from 1997 to 2011, a version was also manufactured and sold in South America. Introduced to replace the Ford Courier produced in Japan by Mazda, the Ranger was produced in two distinct generations. While introduced a year after the Chevrolet S-10, the Ranger would go on to become the best-selling compact truck in the United States from 1987 to 2004.
Over its production life, the chassis and underpinnings of the Ranger would be used for various compact Ford trucks, most commonly as sport-utility vehicles. During the 1990s and 2000s, Mazda adopted a badge-engineered version of Ranger, taking on the B-Series nameplate (the reverse of the Ford Courier produced by Mazda).
Over its 29-year production run, Ford sourced the Ranger from three different assembly plants in North America. The Ranger was produced at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Louisville, Kentucky from 1982 to 1999; from 1993 to 2004, production also was sourced from Edison Assembly in Edison, New Jersey. For its entire production run, the Ranger was produced at Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. The final 2012 Ford Ranger produced on December 16, 2011 also ended 86 years of production at Twin Cities Assembly.
Ford Ranger Second Generation
