Producing more vehicles than people are likely to buy wasn't smart in the past and it still isn't. Nice to see Ford being proactive.

Makes for high costs and complexity while accomplishing virtually nothing.

Yeah that's nice but what really matters is the gas. Give us the mileage! Nobody wants those big monsters sucking up their wallet. Go ahead throw in all the safety features Ford can think of. I don't think that will do it.

Improve the truck. Stop trading with slave states. Takeover the plant and make production a cooperative, high-value effort.

You could get better mileage from a full size pickup. A reliable, stripped down 4WD Ranger with great mileage would always be a winner in Minnesota but they never build it.

The Ranger is going to be the perfect truck for this recession/possible depression. Small, inexpensive and cheap to maintain. The plant has free electicity. How can they be this stupid?

I've written it numerous times -- the 20th century gave our society unprecedented advances in mechanization, robotics, productivity, efficiency, global mass communications, etc. And yet we work more hours, on average, than both the Japanese and the Europeans. Now is the time not to lay off a lot of people, but a national call for a 32 hour work-week and 6 weeks of vacation. Oops, I asserted by class interests. Back to the corporate media framing, move along people, nothing to see here.

The real problem with the Ranger is they've been selling the same truck for more than 10 years! Toyota has gone through 2 different versions of the Tacoma. Chevy/GMC did a new version of the S-10 and then replaced that with the Colorado. Yet Ford is still selling the same old truck. They change the grill and taillights but it's the same basic truck. It's long in the tooth and overdue for a redesign. Remember the Ford Ranger conecpt truck that came out a few years ago? Ford needs to pursue something like that. The Ranger is dated and lacking. Perhaps they could compete on price or quality and make it a "value truck" but they don't seem interested in that either. Exactly what is the niche for the Ranger? It's sad they have let it wither on like this. Backin 2000 I owner a Ranger and it was great for the time. 9 years later, we need a new truck!

Ford leased 200 of these vehicles to a test market. Owners loved them and wanted to purchase them at the lease end. Ford said no. The trucks were destroyed. Why couldn't Ford Manufacture these vehicles in St. Paul for retail? Hybrid Electric Work Vehicles...why wouldn't they sell? President Obama spoke yesterday of retooling the Federal Gov. fleet to included such vehicles. Get on it T. Paw.

The big 3 will never be able to price their vehicles to compete with foreign companies due to their union contracts. The first reason is cost - The big 3 union workers make much more than their counterparts even when the foreign company's plant is in the US. The second reason is the ability to make changes - ask any union employee how long it takes to make a change in their process and they'll tell you it takes months. Ask anyone at Toyota or Honda how long it takes to make an improvement in the process and the timeframe will be days. The big 3 is handicapped by their internal business structure and as long as they have that structure they'll never make a car that has better quality or is cheaper to build and sell.