New Ford Ranger to land mid October

The new Ford Ranger features three cab styles, a new engine, and the choice between automatic and manual transmission.

“Designed from the ground up, the highly anticipated all-new Ranger, available in both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, has been comprehensively developed to meet the needs of New Zealand ute and light truck customers,” said Neale Hill, Managing Director of Ford New Zealand.

“The creation and design of the all new Ranger involved an Australian-based, four-year development programme, involving almost 500 engineers from around the Ford world. It also involved exhaustive testing in some of the world’s harshest operating environments.”

New Zealand, along with Australia, will be the first of 180 international markets to release the all-new Ford Ranger when the first models go on sale locally in October.

New Zealand customers will be able to select from three cab styles, body styles and drive configurations, The cab styles are: double cab, super cab (two conventional doors; two rear panel doors), and single cab (special order only from early 2012).

The body styles are well-side and cab chassis.

An all-new 3.2 litre Duratorq TDCi five-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, with a maximum torque of 470Nm and power rated at 147kW, will power the all-new Ranger model line-up in New Zealand (a 2.2 litre Duratorq TDCi engine will be available from special order only, and only in the single cab 2WD XL cab-chassis model from early 2012).

For the first time, turbo-diesel Ranger models will be available with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission to provide reduced engine rpm and extend driving range on long highway trips or in city traffic.

The all-new Ranger will be available in 2WD and 4WD drive configurations in the Hi-Rider variant (low-rider variant only available from special order, and only in the single cab 2WD XL cab-chassis model from early 2012).

Convenient electronic shift “on-the-fly” (ESOF) is fitted to all 4WD models and allows the driver to move between high-range two-wheel drive, high-range four-wheel drive and low-range four-wheel drive using only a centre console-mounted switch.

For maximum traction in off-road conditions, an electronic locking rear differential is fitted to all Wildtrak, XLT and XL 4WD models as standard equipment. This easy-to-use feature is activated by a simple dashboard-mounted button.

All models in the all-new Ranger line-up come fitted with a raft of active and passive safety features, including Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) with Roll-over Mitigation (ROM), Hill Launch Assist (HLA), traction control, load adaptive control; and trailer sway control, Anti-lock brakes (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Emergency brake lights (that flash during an emergency braking manoeuvre). The Wildtrak model also includes a rear-view camera with display in the interior rear-view mirror.

Driver and front passenger airbags will be standard equipment on all models. Front seat side airbags and curtain airbags will be standard equipment on all models.

Driver and passenger Beltminder will be standard on all models.

The price of the new Ford Ranger starts at $34,690 for the single cab chass XL, up to $66,290 for the double well-side Wildtrak.

See Ford Ranger for sale.