The Reborn Ford Ranger Is Officially A Smash Hit

After barely a month since going on sale, thereborn Ford Rangeris proving to be a smash hit. Ford expects to sell 1,200 examples this month alone and demand will only increase. That means there must be an adequate supply.

According toAutomotive News, Ford has authorized overtime shifts at its Michigan Assembly Plant, wherethe mid-size Rangeris built, starting next week. The information comes directly from Ford's president of North America, Kumar Galhotra. "Based on the orders coming in, and based on the hand-raisers, we think the demand's going to be so strong, that starting in February our assembly plant will be going into massive overtime."

Ford claims that roughly 300,000 people have already indicated their intent to buy a new Ranger, hence the production crank up. Currently, only one production shift at the factory builds the Ranger and that makes sense for any new vehicle in its first month. But chances are Ford expected high Ranger demand and was just waiting to give the additional production order. That assembly plant was even converted from building small cars to body-on-frame vehicles specifically for the Ranger. In the future, it'll also likely handle the reborn Bronco, which will be based on the Ranger's platform.

With itsvery reasonable starting price of $25,395, the 2019 Ranger is going up against some heavy players in the mid-size truck segment, specifically the Toyota Tacoma and the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins.