Ford announced at the NAIAS in January that the Ranger pickup would return to the U.S. market, and shopper interest in the nostalgic pickup has been picking up, according to shopper interest data from Jumpstart Automotive Media.

According to Jumpstart:

• Trucks saw the most growth both month-over-month and year-over year (+13% and +36%, respectively) during March
• All three segments of trucks (3/4 & 1-ton, full-size, and midsize) saw year-over-year increases in shopper interest ranging from 28% to 66% when comparing March 2018 to March 2017
• The midsize pickup truck segment grew 24% compared to February, but 34% compared to March 2017; This growth was primarily driven from the much-anticipated all new Ford Ranger
• Ford Ranger, which doesn’t even have a listed MSRP or model pages live on most third-party sites, already captured more than 30% (31.9%) share of shopper interest in the midsize pickup truck segment; This caused all others in the segment to see sharp decreases (double-digits) in March

Other Notable Brands Showing Year-Over-Year Growth:

• Genesis (+116%): G80 was up 10% in its segment compared to last year, G70 was up 181% from February
• RAM (+70%): 1500 was up 73% from last year
• Cadillac (+31%): CT6 was up 167% in its segment, XT4 as a new entry already jumped to 7% share of the segment, XT5 grew 10% from last year
• Jaguar (+29%): ePace as a new entry ranks 5th in the compact luxury segment and has reached nearly 8% share of shopper interest and i-Pace has grabbed 3% share of the midsize luxury SUV/CUV segment
• Tesla (+27%): Model 3 saw 36% growth among alt. fuel vehicles, while news of the Roadster coming back spurred enthusiast interest since November, holding more than 10% share of the premium luxury sport segment

About Jumpstart

Jumpstart Automotive Media, a division of Hearst Autos, offers high-impact and performance-driven marketing and advertising solutions that achieve optimum results. An industry thought-leader known for its in-depth shopping reports, Jumpstart connects automotive marketers with the largest, high-performing audience of car shoppers and enthusiasts through partnerships with: Car and Driver, U.S. News Best Cars, J.D. Power Cars, NADAguides, Autoweek.com, Autobytel, Autolist.com, Daily News Autos, LeftLaneNews.com, CarSoup, CarBuzz, CarStory, and VehicleHistory.com.