Spied: Mazda BT-50 in California

It wasn't that long ago that the U.S. pickup truck market offered both the Ford Ranger and the Mazda B-Series compact pickups for entry-level consumers. That all changed as full-size pickups got cheaper and mid-size pickups got larger.

Ford and Mazda have a long history of working together, and one of those collaborative efforts was the last-generation Ranger and B-Series sharing the same platform. Mazda ended production of the B-Series in late 2008, while the Ranger finished its run in 2011. That backstory is what makes this latest report from our spy shooters so interesting.

"With the  on course for U.S. hitting showrooms in just a few years, we were intrigued by two Mazda BT-50 pickups we saw at Mazda's North American headquarters in Irvine, Calif.

"The Mazda BT-50 pickup is mechanically based on Ford's T6 global Ranger; both models have been sold in global markets outside of North America. With Ford now working on the Ranger for American showrooms for the 2019 model year, we're left to wonder if Mazda is evaluating the prospect of piggy-backing on this development to bring the BT-50 to U.S. shores. The synergies make sense; the path has been set by Ford, and now a pair of BT-50 4×4 crew cabs have shown up at Mazda's U.S. headquarters. Consider us intrigued.

"While some of the variants of the BT-50 are built for right-hand-drive markets, both the silver BT-50 Pro 4×4 and the black BT-50 4×4 pictured are left-hand-drive models that would be appropriate for the American market.

"While Mazda has made no public pronouncements about bringing the BT-50 to the U.S., the fact that these pickups are now in the hands of Mazda North America, with a pending U.S. Ranger on the horizon, is certainly curious."

KGP Photography images