2025 Ford Ranger Super Duty is “here to win”

It seems a little early to call, but with Ford’s uprated, trail-crushing Ranger Super Duty positioned as the ultimate 4x4 ute, has Ford already secured the title of ‘best-selling vehicle of 2026’? Deliveries are set to commence in December – several months earlier than anticipated – which gives the Super Duty the entirety of 2026 to build sales for the Blue Oval as opposed to cannibalise the standard Ranger.

“For us, this is about winning,” Ford Australia president and CEO Andrew Birkic said of the Ranger Super Duty.

“We’re here to do things really well, but we’re also here to win – and that has to be the lens in this segment.

“Mid-size pick-up is a very competitive segment. And not just to compete, but to provide our customers a very viable alternative, it has to be done well.”

‘Winning’ in this context, is total dominance of the mid-size ute segment. But it might as well mean dominance of the overall new car market.

The Ranger has taken top spot in the sales race for the last two years running, and with two months of 2025 sales figures still to be reported, its current tally of 46,452 units is only slightly ahead of its nemesis, the Toyota HiLux (45,257).

The additional sales firepower of the Ranger Super Duty couldn’t come at a more opportune time.

As it stands, 2025 may prove to be a very close race between the HiLux and Ranger, but next year will be truly interesting to watch.

Not only will 2026 be the Super Duty’s first full year of sales, but Toyota’s “new-generation” HiLux arrives in December to keep Ford honest.

Toyota’s new-gen RAV4 may also be a 2026 wildcard contender for the title of top seller, but it’ll start behind the eight ball with a Q2 launch.

The HiLux, though built on old bones, gets a sorely-needed interior makeover and an exterior nip-and-tuck, plus the eventual introduction of battery-electric and hydrogen power to give alternatives to the well-worn 2.8-litre turbo-diesel.

On the other hand, the Ranger gets no major cosmetic refresh, but a range revamp announced this week sees more standard equipment in low-spec variants and the grunty 184kW/600Nm 3.0-litre V6 made available in every grade (but not every configuration).

The popular 2.0L bi-turbo has been dropped entirely as part of that rationalisation, but in cases where that engine has been substituted with the less-powerful 2.0L single-turbo diesel, prices have been dropped.

And then there’s the Super Duty. Pitched squarely at commercial fleets in mining, forestry, construction, farming and other heavy industry sectors – but also expected to capture more than a few private buyers – the Ranger Super Duty is expected to grow sales well beyond their current level.

While Ford acknowledges some Super Duty sales will be a case of substitution (a customer who would normally be content with an XLT buys a Super Duty), a significant number of buyers will be putting Rangers in their fleet for the first time.

“I think there’ll always be some level of substitution, we understand that,” Birkic said.

“But you don’t spend the money we’ve done on this program and work on a substitution basis. It has to be incremental.

“We think we’ll push into some competitors, but we also think the cab-over market is among them. So that’s all incremental.”

Cab-over light trucks are an unconventional rival for a pick-ups like the Ford Ranger, but with the Super Duty offering a huge 4500kg towing capacity, 4500kg gross vehicle mass (GVM) and 8000kg gross combination mass (GCM) as well as car-like comfort levels, it stands to steal sales from the light truck segment, as well as its more traditional enemies like the HiLux and LandCruiser 70 Series.

With a towing capacity one tonne above than the segment norm, those numbers are also bound to win over many recreational off-roaders, particularly those who tow big caravans.

“What we know is that there’s a lot of customers we’ve spoken to that today don’t have Fords in their garage,” Birkic said.

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