The New Ford Ranger Arrives This Month With An F-150-Like Face

Lurking in the shadows of this splashy teaser image is the all-new Ford Ranger pick-up truck. Except, it won’t be all-Ford - although the Blue Oval has neglected to mention it in the press release, the new Ranger has been developed as part of a joint venture with VW which will also yield a second-generation Amarok.

The current Amarok and Ranger are both highly-rated pick-ups, so this combining of forces can only be a good thing. As for Ford’s end of the deal, we can see from the teaser image that it’ll have a much flatter, more aggressive nose than the outgoing model, not unlike the bigger and absurdly popular F-150. The picture also reveals the snazzy daytime running light signature.

Ford says that it conducted over 5,000 interviews to pin down exactly what potential customers are after. And there should be plenty of those - there are plans to flog the pick-up in 180 different markets. Prototype Rangers have been put through over 750,000 miles of testing, around half of those with the load beds filled to the legal capacity.

It’ll sit on the same ‘T6’ ladder chassis as the Bronco, and - like most pick-ups - will retain a leaf spring rear suspension setup on most models. One exception will be the Ranger Raptor - like its predecessor, this hotter, beefier model will switch to a bespoke coil spring setup at the back.

The Raptor should also get an upgrade in the powerplant department. Rumour has it that the US market version will be powered by a 2.7-litre ‘Nano’ Ecoboost V6, providing a handy 325bhp and a stout 399lb ft of torque.

Some markets including Australia are set to have a choice of two engines - the 210bhp, 369lb ft 2.0-litre inline-four diesel found in the current Raptor (below) and a 3.0-litre V6 diesel putting out 255bhp and 443lb ft. We suspect the UK will only get the four-pot, but we’d love to be proven wrong. A plug-in hybrid is also on the agenda.

The new Ranger will be revealed on the evening of 24 November, ahead of a 2022 launch. VW’s Amarok will go to market the same year, but we’re not sure yet if it’ll be revealed before the end of 2021.