Why does the 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty even exist?

If you haven’t already heard, Ford Australia has confirmed the development and existence of a Ranger Super Duty set to be released in 2026.

Able to tow up to 4500kg and boasting a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 4500kg and a colossal 8000kg gross combination mass (GCM), the Ranger Super Duty is going to have a load-lugging capability that no other mid-sized pick-up can match, but the question needs to be asked: with the Ranger already dominating the ute segment, why is Ford spending capital on engineering a new variant when the current formula is serving the market so well?

The answer is simple: the Super Duty is aimed at commercial users, more specifically, mining companies, rural fire services, infrastructure providers, utility companies, the forestry industry, farmers and what have you – in Ford’s words, “the toughest customers”.

The brand has fittingly consulted and studied that customer set over the course of the Ranger Super Duty’s ongoing but near-complete development, and these sectors usually operate fairly diverse fleets, often by necessity.

To tow heavy trailers and carry heavy payloads like water or chemical tanks, generator sets and other heavy equipment, light trucks like Isuzu’s N-Series or the Iveco Daily might be used, but while they can lug more weight than a typical dual-cab, they come with the penalty of high fuel consumption, high cost, poor comfort and the need for drivers to hold an appropriate truck licence.

Meanwhile, full-sized utes like the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado might be able to equal the Ranger Super Duty’s 4.5-tonne towing capacity, but payloads are typically quite poor, and it’s not until you get into the heavy-duty stuff like the Silverado HD or Ram 3500 that an American ute starts to outgun a typical Thai-sourced mid-sizer for payload.

And speaking of, what will the Ranger Super Duty’s payload be?

A regular Ranger XL double-cab chassis 4x4 automatic has a GVM of 3250kg and a payload of 1188kg, so with the Ranger Super Duty boasting a GVM that’s 1250kg higher, it’s entirely plausible that it could tote a payload in excess of 2000kg.

With the additional reinforcements required to carry and tow more weight, it’s a fair assumption that the Super Duty will have a higher empty weight than the aforementioned XL, but even if you add a couple of hundred kilos to its base – or kerb – weight to account for that heavy-duty hardware, you’d still end up with a 2000kg+ payload.

Ford Australia is only talking about GVM, GCM and towing numbers at this stage.

But what’s clear is that Ford is pitching the Ranger Super Duty as a ‘jack of all trades’ solution, with weight capacities that equal those of an N-Series truck in a compact form that any worker will be able to drive.

And while the Ranger won’t be able to offer the same degree of sprawling space as an F-150, its payload credentials should blow it out of the water.

Ford clearly isn’t aiming to compete with other mid-sized utes with the Ranger Super Duty, it’s gunning to steal market share from light trucks and full-size pickups.

There’s another clue in Ford’s press release about what the Ranger Super Duty will offer – a reference to providing the aforementioned industrial users with “enhanced off-road capability”.

Taking a Silverado into the tight confines of a timber plantation isn’t a great idea, nor is dragging its guts over a rocky powerline access trail.

The Ranger platform, however, has proven pretty adept at that kind of rugged backcountry bush-bashing. Will the Ranger Super Duty dip into the Raptor parts bin?

It probably won’t go near the Raptor’s coil-sprung rear end and Fox shocks, given they crimp the towing capacity down to 2500kg, but there may be some Raptor knowledge baked into the Super Duty.

Ford hasn’t announced whether the Super Duty will be a single model or a range with different specification levels.

Our expectation is that bare vinyl floors and durable cloth upholstery will be the fashion of the day inside the Super Duty – luxuries like leather aren’t really desirable at a typical worksite.

That said, Ford’s North American Super Duty lineup encompasses a variety of trim levels, from the workman-grade XL through to the luxe King Range and Platinum, so the same strategy may apply in Australia.

What seems most likely, though, is that there will at least be a range of body-styles spanning single- and dual-cab layouts to give the target industries some flexibility.

Will there be a conventional style-side tub for any of them?

Considering most commercial ute fleets like the versatility and durability of a tray and/or prefer to bolt on hefty service bodies to act as mobile workshops, a cab-chassis configuration would arguably be the default for the Super Duty.

We’ve had a crack at rendering what the Ranger Super Duty might look like, based on Ford’s description of its purpose as well as some hints gleaned from the single teaser image.

We’ve based our visual guesstimation on a mashup of the base Ranger XL single-cab chassis with the Raptor’s front quarter panels, wheelarch extensions and front bumper, while the headlamps are donated by the mid-spec XLT (matching up with the teaser image) and the grille is a standard XL item.

With an emphasis on off-road performance, the chunky tyres are similar in size to the Raptor’s while the wheels are the standard XL steel units – albeit adjusted to a wider track to suit those flared guards.

At the back, the ladder frame has been beefed up to support the tray and provide a more robust mounting point for its standard-issue 4500kg tow package, though whether that regular-spec alloy tray will cope with having around two tonnes of cargo in it is debatable.

There’s also significantly more airspace underneath, a reflection of Ford’s enhanced off-road requirement for the Super Duty.

The company hasn’t confirmed the ground clearance yet, but to give those forestry workers the best chance of straddling stumps, we’ve jacked it up to be taller than a Raptor.

But what about that rear axle?

When you mention the Super Duty name to most off-road enthusiasts, it quickly conjures up images of truck-like dual-wheel rear axles and massive fender extensions to contain the girthy track width that comes with that hardware.

Ford’s teaser pic gives no clues as to whether the Ranger Super Duty will come with ‘dualies’, but we’re not expecting it to be the case for two reasons: only the enormous and hideously expensive F-450 gets such an arrangement and the fact the Ranger production lines in Thailand –where the Ranger Super Duty will be built – can’t handle anything wider than a Raptor.

Digital images: ACMG

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