Compact pickups are becoming a shadow of their former selves on the North American production scene. The table below shows how the OEMs have been tapering off their product offerings. Ford confirmed in September that it is dropping the Ranger compact after MY2011. Chrysler’s Dakota ends in 2011. GM is finished with the Canyon/Colorado in 2013. Still committed to the cause… Nissan and Toyota. We think it’s too bad that the Detroit Three are bailing in favor of full-size pickups. Admittedly, full-size is where the money is in this ‘show me the money’ industry, but isn’t there still a segment to be served? The table below lays out the US sales data, followed by some of the theories behind the slide.

Compact	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Chrysler	59,696	32,127	15,420	19,000	8,000
Ford	104,146	93,320	75,530	81,395	77,000
GM	112,637	75,023	33,679	47,000	48,000	22,000
Nissan	84,924	88,389	63,958	93,110	86,000	93,000
Toyota	190,574	171,699	110,131	129,495	150,000	143,000
Total Compacts	551,977	460,558	298,718	370,000	369,000	258,000
Full-Size Pickups	2,524,221	1,548,466	1,307,597	1,663,821	1,753,000	1,818,000

Industry observers have raised a number of reasons for the decline and fall of the Ranger (and other brands) empire, including:

• Feature creep and the size race (like an arms race) that moved models away from being true compacts and reduced the gap with full-size vehicles;

• Improved gas performance by full-size pickups that reduced the economic incentive for smaller models;

• Increase in consumer purchases of full-size trucks for the sake of image (see CNW Research’s data on this subject);

• Ford’s theory that the Transit Connect will serve the needs of the mini-truck buyers;

• Bigger Americans can’t fit in compact pickups;

• US OEM economics – can’t make money on them.

We’ll see how the US market for small cars fares. That should provide either inspiration or confirmation for the fate of compact pickups.