Last year, we learned of an interesting trademark filing for a Ranger Super Duty. While trademark filings don’t always yield new products, this one has. Ford Australia has officially announced that Ford’s midsize pickup truck is getting a beefed-up version for work, rather than for off-road play. With the announcement, it provided both a teaser and some specifications that suggest it should live up to the reputation of its big American cousins.
Styling And Capability
The teaser image shown at top is dark, but reveals a couple of noteworthy details. The most immediately apparent change is the new grille insert. It has thick lines and a chunky vibe. A closer look reveals what seem to be new fenders and a new hood, highlighted by the beveled edged that runs all the way around the lights and grille. We can even make out a black plastic fender flare on the right side of the image. So it seems the Super Duty will be easily recognizable from standard Rangers at a glance.
Ford also shared some of the key specifications of the Super Duty. In the teaser video shown above, it leads with towing capacity, which comes in at 9,920 pounds. That’s 2,290 pounds more than the standard US-specification Ford Ranger. It also follows up with a gross vehicle weight rating of 9,920 pounds. Normal Australian Rangers have their weight ratings between 7,121 and 7,231 pounds, and American Rangers are rated around 6,050 to 6,170 pounds. We’re expecting the Ranger Super Duty to have a higher curb weight than most Australian Rangers to handle the stress of additional towing, but we also expect that high weight rating should translate into higher payload numbers, regardless.
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Ford hasn’t given any other details about the vehicle, such as powertrain specifications. The engine that makes the most sense to us for the application is the turbodiesel 3.0-liter V6 already available in the Ranger overseas. It makes 246 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque, and has even proven itself in the F-150. American F-150s with that engine were rated for up to 11,400 pounds of towing capacity and 2,020 pounds of payload, so it should be entirely adequate for a Ranger Super Duty.
When And Where It Will Be Available
Ford said that the Ranger Super Duty will go on sale next year. We’ll probably see it fully revealed later this year. The company said that its Australian division led development of the Super Duty, similar to its work on the Ranger Raptor. It will be built at the Ranger factory in Thailand, and will be exported to various markets. If production is only at that factory, we can pretty comfortably rule it out for the American market due to the Chicken Tax on imported trucks. Since the Ranger is also built at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, it’s possible it could be updated to also produce the Super Duty. However, it could be a tough sell when F-150s, and space for them, are plentiful and affordable in the US. So even if the factory were tooled up for the Ranger Super Duty, we suspect the model won’t make the trip to our shores.
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