Ford’s has a huge presence in the global bakkie business. Is it telling that the world’s best-selling vehicle is still a Ford, the American brand’s F-Series bakkie.
The American company pours more proportional R&D into bakkies than any other automotive company. And that’s why a new Ford bakkie is always big news.
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After months of disguised images and sneak-peak social media posts, the new Ranger, due in 2022, has been revealed. And it looks a lot different.
The new Ranger bakkie features striking front-end styling with C-shaped headlights, using the latest LED illumination technology. It looks a lot more purposeful in its stance, too, thanks to 50mm more overall bodywork width.
Beyond the evolved product aesthetic, the big news is a bigger engine and very impressive cabin infotainment.
A reshaped design architecture, better ergonomics, and big screens are the themes with Ranger’s new cabin. Ford has chosen to prioritize touchscreen interfacing, with two large portrait-orientated screens.
Even the mid-range bakkies will have 10.1-inch screens, while the premium offering will be a 12.1-inch. Ford’s coding team, many of whom are former Blackberry programmers, have been working on an even slicker Sync4 app and Smartphone interface for new Ranger, which is both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible.
2022 Ford Ranger engine portfolio
Ford has committed to carry over much of the current Ranger’s engine portfolio. The only engine that won’t survive the Ranger’s transition from current to next-generation, is the 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel.
The current 2-litre single and bi-turbodiesel four-cylinder engines will form the core powertrain choices for the new Ranger.
Double-cab bakkie followers who need potent overtaking performance, towing power, and steep gradient dune driving ability will have the option of a 3-litre V6 turbodiesel.
Introducing a high-performance V6 diesel with the new Ranger is sure to serve Ford well. Exact power and torque specifications remain unconfirmed, but Ford has been using this 3-litre V6 diesel engine in the F-150 bakkie range for a few years.
The current Ford F-150 3-litre V6 turbodiesel bakkie engine boosts 186kW and 597Nm. If it remains unchanged in the Ranger role, that would make for a very powerful double-cab bakkie in the local market.
Bold design. Better engines. And futuristic infotainment tech. This is what Ford is promising when the new Ranger goes on sale, being proudly locally made, in the second half of 2022.
Feature image: Ford
