Ford New Zealand reckons its newly refined PX series Ranger ute will maintain the vehicles more than 600 unit lead over the ageing Toyota Hilux.
The Blue Oval brand saw more than 738 Rangers sold locally in August, a new record for the company, and it knows that an all-new four-cylinder turbodiesel 2.8-litre Toyota Hilux will launch at the end of November.
If the Ford NZ brass is worried by the incoming Toyota model, they didn’t show it at the recent media drive day held at the new Boomrock Kauri Bay off-road driving facility near Clevedon, in Auckland.
Ford staff say they are confident that buyers will prefer the 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel grunt of the Ranger. They reckon the buyer will ultimately decide which is the better vehicle, and dealers report that the increased retail price has not been a barrier.
Prices start at $38,040 for the 3.2-litre XL 4×2 single cab well side manual model to $69,640 for the 3.2-litre Wildtrak Double Cab 4×4 automatic.
The top-of-the-line Ranger Wildtrak mirrors the Ford Mondeo Titanium by offering features such as heated leather-clad seats, Sync2 vehicle connectivity, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping alert, and land keeping aid
It also offers forward alert with collision mitigation, front and rear park assist, tyre pressure monitoring system, Trailer sway control, and a rear-view camera.
Self-parallel and perpendicular parking isn’t available yet on the Ranger Wildtrak but given that it is filtering through the Ford passenger car range, DIESELtalk believes that technology could become available soon.
Unlike the soon to be released Everest SUV, which shares a similar engine, when the Ranger has to move to Euro V emissions next November, it will not be equipped with an AdBlue system.
Ford product development engineer Ian Cole confirmed to DIESELtalk that the Euro V Ranger will arrive with an additional diesel particulate filter, and not a urea-based SCR system.
Cole says current European-specification Rangers utilise an additional DPF to meet Euro V requirements.
Key cosmetic changes to the Ranger are the new front grille with a trapezoidal design, reminiscent of the U.S built Ford F-150 truck, which is wholly intentional says Ford New Zealand.
In addition, the Ranger sports new headlamps, new recessed driving lamps, new wheel designs and a cargo light on pick up models.
