Ford Ranger
Ford Ranger is a name used on two distinct compact pickup truck lines by the Ford Motor Company and by a marketing arrangement with Mazda.
- A Ford-designed compact pickup truck, which is sold and manufactured in North America as well as Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It is also currently marketed as the Mazda B-Series (North America) by Mazda dealers. In North America it is built in St. Paul, Minnesota.
- A Mazda-designed compact pickup known as Mazda B-Series (International)) sold in more than 130 countries, and also sold with a Ford Ranger nameplate.
The use of four-wheel drive in light trucks and the Ranger name began in May 1950 when Marmon-Herrington announced a four-wheel drive conversion of a Ford Panel truck with windows cut into it. In 1965, the name "Ranger" was first introduced as a premium styling package for the Ford F-Series full-sized pickup trucks. The name was taken in 1982 for the line of North American compact trucks introduced in mid-1982 as an early 1983 model to replace the Toyo Kogyo (Mazda)-built Ford Courier.