The news of Ford’s possible return to India has already garnered a fair amount of interest among loyalists. As we have exclusively reported, the Everest will be the first new Ford that’ll be launched here as a full import. And while we do not expect an expansive ICE line-up – the company will instead focus on EVs in India – new spy shots of the latest Ford Ranger have sparked off speculation that this too could be on cards for India. The Ranger pickup, after all, shares its underpinnings and engine options with the latest Ford Everest. This is the second time that the pickup has been sighted in the country, with the first being spotted in Chennai.
Ford Ranger is essentially an Everest pickup
The design of the Ranger is very closely related to that of the Everest. The large radiator grille with the horizontal bar incorporating the Ford badge, and squarish headlamps with the C-shaped LED DRLs are identical on both models. What’s different on the Ranger is a new front bumper that appears beefier and has a bullbar-like element.
Over at the sides, the doors are also shared between both models. However, at the rear, it gets a new tailgate design with the Ranger name stamped into the metal, and the sides have slightly more pronounced wheel arches with an integrated step on either side of the bumper to improve access to the bed.
Ford Ranger interior is rugged, hard-wearing
The interior of the Ranger is identical to the Everest – it has the same horizontally-orientated touchscreen taking centre stage on the dashboard. The screen is flanked by vertical AC vents on either side and a stack of buttons for the climate control below. The dashboard has a clean, uncluttered look with an all-black theme, and the hard-wearing materials are set in straight lines, which add to its rugged appeal.
In terms of equipment, the Ranger gets ambient lighting, ventilated front seats, a full-digital instrument cluster, wireless charging, automatic climate control, powered driver’s seat and the Ford Pass connected car technology.
Ford Ranger and Everest: what's common?
Under the hood, the Ranger gets a range of 2.0-litre and 3.0-litre diesel engines globally that are shared with the Everest. The range starts with the single-turbo version of the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder unit that produces 170hp, and then there’s the bi-turbo version of the same engine that produces 206hp. Finally, the range-topping 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine produces 246hp and 600Nm of torque. All engines are mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. The 2.0-litre engines get both 4x2 and 4x4 drive layouts, but the 3.0-litre V6 is only available with a full-time 4x4 system.
Ford Ranger: will it come to India?
If the Ranger is launched in India, like the Everest, it will also arrive as a full import, with the possibility of being locally assembled at a later stage, once Ford makes its plant fully operational. Sharing powertrain, platform and several exterior and interior components, it shouldn’t be too difficult to localise the CKD kits for both models together; in fact, it will only add to the scale.
However, unlike the Everest (formerly Endeavour) which enjoys a huge fan following in India, the Ranger will be an all-new nameplate for our market. Traditionally, lifestyle pickup trucks haven’t been hugely popular in India, but with the Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max, the segment has been slowly growing. Add to that the growing off-roading culture in India, and the Ranger could just find a place in our market.
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Viraaj Bhatnagar
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