Autoblog

Final Ford Ranger to be built mid-month, already sold to Orkin

Noah Joseph — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST

The Ranger pickup has been an integral part of the Ford truck lineup for decades. But later this month, that will cease to be - at least here in the States. That's when the very last Ranger will roll off the assembly line in St. Paul, Minnesota. And what do you know, it's already found a buyer.

The last Ranger has been sold to Orkin, the pest control company that already relies on fleets of white Rangers (and Chevrolet Colorado pickups) with the red diamond logo on the door and all manner of insecticides and other tools of the trade in the back.

"Since 1983, Orkin has used the Ford Ranger as its primary fleet vehicle because it's a reliable and economical truck," Paul Youngpeter, Director of Fleet for Rollins, Inc. (Orkin's parent company) tells Autoblog. "We're honored that Ford has agreed that we will get the last Ranger, and we'll put into our regular service rotation before it's retired to our corporate archives or used for training."

Orkin says they've got enough Rangers to last them for now, and that the company will pick a successor when the time comes. For our part, it seems only fitting to us that a terminated model should be used by exterminators, but one way or another, at least the final Ranger will be put to good use.

Final Ford Ranger to be built mid-month, already sold to Orkin originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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St. Paul Ford Ranger plant to shut down for December

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

For the entire month of December, Ford's plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, where about 1,000 workers assemble the Ford Ranger, will shut down. According to reports, it is normal for the plant to be closed for the week of Christmas, but an additional three weeks of downtime is necessary to "align production with demand."

The plant had initially been scheduled to be shuttered sometime in 2008, but the recent upwards trend in small pickup sales prompted the Blue Oval to keep it open a bit longer and it currently has no specific date set for closure, though it's demise is currently rumored for sometime in 2011. Perhaps if Ford would actually do something to update its long-in-the-tooth Ranger truck, it wouldn't need to consider its death at all, but that's another story entirely.

[Source: Reuters]

St. Paul Ford Ranger plant to shut down for December originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford Ranger on the ropes

Dan Roth — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 08:32:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Etc., Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

We posted some conjecture about the Ranger not too long ago, with some Photochops to illustrate possible ways Ford could keep its smallest pickup alive. Automotive News has looked in to their crystal ball and determined that the future of the Ranger is murky, at best. The first bad sign is that the St. Paul, MN Ranger plant is slated to be closed in 2008. With no place to build the Ranger, it would seem to have one foot in the grave, along with the rest of the segment, not counting the evergreen Toyota Tacoma (which is not particularly small anymore). All is not lost, however. As we offered, there are existing platforms that would lend themselves to truckification, as well as actual trucks in different markets.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Continue reading Ford Ranger on the ropes

Ford Ranger on the ropes originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Jun 2007 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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