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Todd Hallenbeck25 Mar 2015
NEWS

Ford Ranger investment: Winners and losers

Unexpectedly extensive Ford Ranger upgrade is good news for consumers and bad news for competitors

When Ford revealed its 2015 Ranger yesterday on the eve of today's Bangkok motor show, it surprised more than just the 200 local and international media in attendance.

Customers will be the big winners from a comprehensive safety upgrade that brings a host of new advanced driver aids, many of which will only be available on premium versions, previously only seen in prestige passenger cars.

But the biggest losers from an unexpectedly extensive midlife makeover that also includes design and powertrain improvements could well be the Ranger's fiercest one-tonne competitors, all of which will also be renewed this year.

Both the new Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton were revealed late last year and will go on sale here by mid-year, while the replacement for Toyota all-conquering HiLux has been leaked ahead of its Australian release later this year.

While 2015 Mazda BT-50, the mechanical twin of the Ranger, is also likely to come in for extensive design and technology upgrades when it appears in coming weeks, this year's three all-new one-tonne utes are too close to release for their makers to make significant engineering changes.

Amid a softening car market in Australia, SUV and pick-up sales are predicted to remain strong for the foreseeable future. The lucrative 'lifestyle' ute market continues to boom and Australia is the fourth largest destination for one of the most profitable vehicle types.

The scope of Ford's investment in the Australian-designed, Thai-built Ranger not only reflects its determination to succeed in the segment, but the importance of the model as a global nameplate sold in more than 180 countries.

The 2015 Ranger is basically unchanged from the doors rearward. However, what was expected to be a soft plastic facelift is far more significant and includes a new front fascia with a dominating trapezoidal grille, narrower headlights and perhaps the largest Blue Oval to appear on a Ford outside the US.

Exterior design changes include costly new metal stampings of the bonnet and front guards, but it is the Ranger’s new taller and wider grille that demands attention. In design step with the larger F-Series pick-up, new Ranger is extremely well proportioned.

The Australian design team lead by David Dewitt retained Ranger’s trademark three-bar and twin nostril graphic, which has been used on Ranger for more than a decade. According to Dewitt, the facelift followed traditional development stages from initial renderings to quarter-scale clay models to full-size clay before final sign off.

While the attention to detail of Dewitt's team is reflected in the ute's new surfacing and contours, the grille’s graphic elements were amplified by deepening their draw and using voided space effectively to project power and presence.

The headlights were narrowed to further enhance the prominence of the larger grill, and were also stretched horizontally, intruding deep into the front fenders to enlarge the Ranger’s visual width. The new Ranger dimensionally is unchanged but the successful design illusion makes it appear wider and more masculine.

Interior design centres on new digital display instrumentation and an 8.0-inch touch-screen similar to one in Ford Australia's final Falcon and Territory, making it more car-like inside. Continuing that theme are several new technological features from Ford's latest passenger cars, including  SYNC 2 voice control, lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control.

Ford says today’s ute customers want more technology, more refinement and more car-like comfort and driving dynamics, and the 2015 Ranger will definitely give it to them when it goes on sale in Australia during the third quarter of this year.

Ford engineers also claim to have refined the Ranger’s noise and vehicle harmonics with additional sound proofing and the introduction of electronic power assisted steering — the first for a mid-sized pickup — along with taller rear gearing tailored more for highway cruising and fuel efficiency than for off-road driving.

Compared with its softer looking and more polite Japanese competitors, the Ranger’s new design tweaks are aggressive and powerful with reason. Under the bonnet the Ranger retains its pair of turbo-diesel engines in four-cylinder 2.2-litre and five-cylinder 3.2-litre capacities coupled to a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic.

The long stroke 3.2-litre five’s power and torque peak outputs remain unchanged at 147kW and 470Nm; however, engineers claim with revised fuel delivery and introduction of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) they’ve been able to improve fuel efficiency by approximately 18 per cent.

They’ve done much more. In fact, they’ve revised the combustion chamber design as well as improved the EFI system from three-stage to four-stage injection to better control combustion temperatures, reduce emissions and reduce engine noise.

The Ranger is principally built in Thailand alongside the BT-50 at the Auto Alliance Thailand joint-venture production plant and exported throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe and into developing markets in the Middle East. It is also built in smaller numbers in South Africa and Argentina.

It terms of global reach, its presence in 180 countries on four continents far outpaces its bigger brother, the F-Series.

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Written byTodd Hallenbeck
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