New 2022 Ford Ranger tests off-road in official video
Fourth-gen pick up will be unwrapped this year before going on sale with Volkswagen Amarok twin in 2022
Ford has released the first official images and footage of the forthcoming Ranger pick up set to be unveiled later this year.
The fourth-generation Ranger will go on sale next year, replacing the highly successful current model which cemented itself as the UK’s best-selling-pick-up truck shortly after the third-generation went on sale in 2011.
The first pictures of the new Ranger are accompanied by a teaser video (below) promising even more performance on mud, grit, rock and snow. Footage shows the pick up drifting over various terrains while testing in Australia and New Zealand, accompanied by details of the various testing phases: "making sure everything works when its full of mud", “punishing the powertrain in the desert” and “torture testing when the going gets tough”.
Next year’s Ranger will continue Ford’s truly global vehicle strategy with the one-tonne pick-up due to go on sale across the world, including North America. Built in Ford’s dedicated pick-up truck plants in Thailand and South Africa, the new model has been created by Ford’s design team in Australia and judging by the prototype’s camouflage will likely take its design influences from the latest Ford F-150.
In keeping with the global strategy, a common diesel engine shared between the new Ranger pick-up and Ford’s light commercial vehicle range of vans is probable, with a petrol option specifically for the North American market.
However, no details on powertrains have been given at present nor any indication that there will be a zero-emission electric Ranger to sit alongside the larger Ford F-150 Lightning in the United States. A recently spotted prototype of the Ranger gave clues to development of a PHEV option, which would fit with Ford's strategy to offer a zero-emission-capable version of all European commercial vehicles by 2024.
The Ford Ranger platform will also be shared with Volkswagen and used for the next-generation Volkswagen Amarok. Volkswagen exited the UK pick-up sector in 2020 due to increasingly stringent emissions targets that its V6 Amarok was unable to meet.
Ahead of the new Ranger’s arrival next year, Ford has been increasing the number of limited-edition Ranger models on sale with the Ford Ranger Stormtrak and Ford Ranger Wolftrak, as well as a Ford Ranger Raptor Special Edition.
George Barrow
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