If you only know a few things about me, one of those should be the following. I love cars! If it seems like I'm not paying attention, I am more than likely daydreaming about the roar of an engine and the squeal from some smoking tires. I'll be going down the road with my fiancée and see a Corvette or something and react as if I just saw a sasquatch! I'm dying for it to be summertime again so that I can take my El Camino to some more car shows; it's one of my favorite things to do.
On that note, at least there is the Cleveland Auto Show just one week away! Resultingly, I've been thinking about new cars a little more than usual. I just recently saw a Ford Ranger fresh off the lot and the thought came to me, "why is there no SUV version of this truck?" The bulky Explorer is closer to a mini-van than the sport-utility it used to be, and the Edge is more like a hatchback car than it is a truck. There's the Bronco Sport, but it clearly shares the same platform with Ford's smaller truck, the Maverick, and not the mid-size Ranger. The big Expedition is also out of the question since it remains the SUV version of the full-size F-150. This all left me scratching my head, as I assumed the Bronco is built on a bigger platform than the Ranger as well.
After a little research, I now know it is not. The platforms on which they ride are just about the only thing in common, however, as these vehicles are quite different and would not be considered siblings like the Maverick and Bronco Sport are (at least under my definition). With this new information, I discovered that my question is almost valid. There is no SUV sibling to the Ford Ranger... in the U.S.
Outside of North America exists what is known as the Ford Everest, which is an SUV directly based on the Ranger. It's the missing piece described above, falling in between the Bronco Sport and Expedition in size. It's also seemingly the middle ground between the trail-ready Bronco and the domesticated Explorer in terms of ground clearance and 4x4 capabilities.
Would the Everest be cool to have in our market? Absolutely. I'd especially love to see a Raptor Version.
Do we need it, though? Well, not really. As described above, Ford already offers some similar SUV's and sales of this would probably mostly just detract from those. Potential 4Runner buyers could certainly be won over with this, but I'm sure there's more strategy to it too. So be it.
If you'd like to see some of the hottest new vehicles from manufacturers, from EV's to UTV's, be sure to keep it tuned to 94.9 WQMX! All this week, Ben McKee in the afternoon has been giving away family four packs of passes to the Cleveland Auto Show at the I-X Center, and if you listen throughout the entire day today, we very well may have even more chances for you to go.
Good luck from Your Country, 94.9 WQMX!