Aussie-designed Ranger to debut in Sydney

The Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) in Sydney will be the venue for the global preview of the next Ford Ranger.

Developed by Ford Australia under the auspices of the T6 project (which will also spawn the next Mazda BT-50), the new Ranger will be manufactured overseas for sale in 180 different countries.

"Australia has played a leading role in the development of this latest global Ford product," president for Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, Joe Hinrichs, was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the company earlier today.

"Ranger is symbolic of how our great product development capability is being leveraged by the ONE Ford plan like never before."

The T6 Ranger has been a long anticipated new model, expected to offer buyers improved fuel efficiency, upgraded power and more of the things that commercial vehicle buyers want from their pick-up, including a better driving experience and what Ford calls "exceptional towing and payload capacity".

According to Ford, the T6 mules tested as part of the development of the new Ranger have notched up over a million kilometres throughout Australia, the Middle East and the European Alps.

T6's public showing isn't the only Sydney news from Ford. The company will also have its Focus RS on display, along with the Fiesta sedan and the supercharged 'Coyote' V8 variants new to the FPV range.

Just 315 units of the hot Focus have been allocated for the Australian market and with its 224kW/440Nm turbo five-cylinder engine, that allocation may not last long.

"The show will be a great opportunity to see the car that's set to spawn a whole new generation of performance car enthusiasts," said Ford Australia president, Marin Burela. 

More a mainstream offering, the Fiesta sedan is expected to bolster sales of Ford's light-car range with not only the extra luggage space afforded by a boot, but also through the choice of petrol or diesel engines.

"Fiesta has been extremely successful in Australia," Burela says. "Since its launch in early 2009, Ford's share of the light car segment has grown from 4.7 percent to 8.3 percent. We fully expect that the new sedan and diesel variants will attract even more new customers to the Fiesta range, along with the availability of the new 1.6-litre PowerShift automatic transmission."

Sydney will be the first chance for many FPV enthusiasts to see the new supercharged GT and GS models in situ. While the supercharged engine is based on the all-alloy Coyote V8 introduced with the latest model year of the US-market Mustang, it has been tweaked for the Australian applications.

With the new models, FPV now has a range of forced induction cars (including the turbo F6 variants) to offer buyers.

Located at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, AIMS opens to the public on October 15 and runs until October 24.

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