Next Ford Ranger: US program not a threat

The Aussie boss of Ford's Ranger global development program insists the pick-up’s expansion into North America from 2019 will not compromise the character and attributes that that have made the current model the Blue Oval’s biggest seller in Australia.

Instead, Melbourne-based Ford Asia-Pacific programs director Dave French says the next-generation Ranger will be an improved evolution of the current highly-rated vehicle, designed to build on its current strengths while dealing with the complex regulatory framework required to sell the vehicle in 200 markets.

French is also in charge of Everest SUV and forthcoming Bronco, which are primarily developed in Australia from the same core T6 architecture as the Ranger.

“We are very happy with Ranger and it has done even better than we had hoped in many markets,” French told motoring.com.au. “But can we do better? Absolutely.

“We are working hard to do exactly that.

“We are in an environment where – particularly going to 200 countries -- we have all these different regulations and we have got most of the car being regulated more and more and some place it is regulated less and less.

“That makes for a lot of change that’s required in the design, particularly emissions and fuel economy requirements in the markets we sell into. We have got plenty of challenges.

“But while we are working on that we are not ignoring our customers. We have got a really active program of understanding how people are using our products.

“Not just market research … but real customer immersion trying to understand what’s in the minds of people who are buying our truck.”

The first-generation Australian-developed T6 Ranger was launched in 2011 before a significant update was released in 2015. The second generation is expected in 2019, with spy photos of the development prototypes now popping up both here and in North America on automotive websites including motoring.com.au.

The next-generation Ranger and reborn Bronco will be built alongside each other to service the US market at Ford’s Michigan assembly plant, which is currently undergoing an $US850 million revamp.

But French played down the level of differentiation the North American Ranger might have and the potential impact on the model’s global development program.

One obvious potential difference is the US is likely to be more interested in petrol than diesel engines — something that doesn’t figure in Australia and many other markets.

“I can’t comment directly on it, but you look at any OEM that makes cars for the whole world and have a look at how different they are in North America,” French said. “They have specific needs; regulatory needs are different and consumer tastes are different in some respects.

“But we are all about having global product and we only have one T6 engineering team and one Ranger program team and so we don’t plan to fritter away our resources on making two different Rangers if we can possibly avoid it.

“So our focus is commonality, where we can be as common as possible. But we recognise there are differences that are going to suit North America.”

French also confirmed 2019 Ranger was a stand-alone program for Ford, as Mazda has decided to develop its next BT-50 with Isuzu.

“They are happy with their program and we are happy with ours,” he said.

Meanwhile, French shed a little light on Bronco development and how it was being structured within Ford.

“We engineer the platform T6 in Asia-Pacific and that is driven very substantially from Australia — but not just Australia — and then we engineer the top hats — the bodies — for all our cars in different places.

“It happens that Ranger and Everest top-hats are engineered in Asia-Pacific too. But Bronco will be engineered elsewhere.

The development base for the Bronco’s body is likely to be North America, although that hasn’t been confirmed by Ford. There had been suggestions the Bronco would merely be a rebadged Everest but the separate engineering program suggests otherwise.

French also revealed a chief program engineer for the born-again Bronco, which may follow in the footsteps of its forebears by featuring a short wheelbase and just two doors, had yet to be appointed.

CPEs for Ranger, Everest and – eventually – Bronco all report to him. He played down that vacancy being an issue.

“It’s all perfectly under control,” he said.