Sales of the world’s best-selling vehicle for 34 years – Ford’s iconic North American F-series – could be overtaken by the Australian redesigned and engineered Ranger ‘ute’ that will be sold in 130 countries.
Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally, talking to Sydney-based website Drive.com, hinted the vast spread of the new Ranger ute could see it overtake the company’s larger F150 pick-up range that’s largely confined to the American market where it once sold more than 1m a year.
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Along with a Mazda variant, the Ranger has been a product of the Ford-Mazda AutoAlliance JV in Thailand which has built several generations of the model line in around a decade, for sale in most major markets outside North America. Until now, Ford has built the North American Ranger – a completely different and much older design – and a variant for Mazda in the US but that line will now be replaced, as part of Mulally’s ‘One Ford’ strategy with the new global model from Australia/Thailand.
“Well, wouldn’t that be an exciting development?” Mulally enthused when Drive.com asked if the Ranger could strip the F150 of its long-running sales title. “It’s going to go to everybody [around the world], it’s a great vehicle.”
The Ranger is due to be unveiled at the Sydney motor show (also known as the Australian International Motor Show), which opens on 15 October, signaling Ford Australia’s first input into the new One Ford world that builds one car for multiple markets.
To compete against the likes of Toyota’s dominant HiLux, the Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara and the upcoming South American-built Volkswagen Amarok, the Ranger will continue to share major underbody components with Mazda’s BT-50, the report said.
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By GlobalDataIt will be offered in a range of body styles – including regular utes [short for ‘utility’; Australian for pickup truck] and four-door models – and with a choice of petrol or diesel engines.
The basis for the Ranger, codenamed T6, could also spawn other variants, including an offroader similar in principle to the Mitsubishi Challenger.
“The fact that we’ve standardised our platfoms like T6, that gives us the chance now to wear all the different ‘top hats’ (or body styles), so absolutely, do what the market really wants,” said Mulally. “And we can do it a lot easier and a lot less expensive because of our global platform.”
He said the Ranger – and its potential spin-offs – were an “exciting development for Australia because they took the lead on the design”.
