Ford Ranger Stormtrak firms for Australia
Local trademark application suggests a Raptor-themed Wildtrak is on the wayWant a Ford Ranger with some Raptor attitude but don’t fancy paying up to $95,000 to put a snarling desert racer on your driveway?
Well just such a vehicle could soon be available Down Under, given Ford Australia this week filed a new trademark application for the ‘Stormtrak’ nameplate with IP Australia.
The Blue Oval has long insisted the securing of nameplates is not indicative of firm future product plans, but given the current demand for upmarket Ranger variants, we wouldn’t be surprised if this one is.
The 2023 Ford Ranger Stormtrak debuted in Thailand earlier this year as a tarted-up Wildtrak featuring unique LED light inserts on its gloss-black grille, red bumper trim, black 20-inch alloys with red inserts, black side decals, red Stormtrak badging and the Ranger’s optional Flexible Rack System.
There are also more splashes of red and black inside the cabin, where the black leather suede upholstery is contrasted by red stitching and ‘Stormtrak’ embossing on the backrests.
However, it’s important to note that despite the sexier exterior and sportier cabin, Thailand’s Stormtrak doesn’t score any mechanical upgrades over the Wildtrak and is only available with the 2.0-litre bi-turbo ‘Panther’ diesel engine.
What’s in store for the potential new Ranger variant Down Under remains to be seen, given Ford Australia says it has no announcements to make at this time, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the Stormtrak is available here with the beefy 3.0-litre ‘Lion’ turbo-diesel V6 to better match its tough looks and premium positioning within the range.
The Stormtrak is second only to the Raptor in Ford Thailand’s Ranger line-up, but would more than likely slot into third in our market behind the special-edition Wildtrak X, which bridges the gap between the Raptor and core variants with its monotube Bilstein Position-Sensitive Dampers and myriad off-road functions.
Ford executives let slip mid-last year there were more Ranger variants on the way for Australia, some of which we now know to be the Platinum and Wildtrak X.
Once the latter leaves our market there’ll once again be a vast gulf between the Raptor and regular Wildtrak variants in terms of off-road hardware and capability, meaning the Stormtrak could even take over locally as the stop-gap between the two with some uprated suspension goodies of its own…
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