News: Ford’s (2019) Ranger sees daylight at Silverton plant
A passenger-car bottleneck at Ford South Africa has developed. Some of 2018’s stock (Focus, Fiesta ST, Mustang) hasn’t been disgorged on our shores because Ford is busy satisfying their main markets ahead of our little daub on the spreadsheet. Not that those will affect the outcome in the bigger picture of Ford’s global strategy to discontinue passenger cars by 2022, bar the Mustang.
So to avoid this new model prejudice, you need to buy a bakkie. In this product segmentation our market size punches well above its weight, granting us access to bakkies at the same time as Australia and America.
If it’s a new Ford Ranger you’re after, your needs will be met rather swiftly this year because today marks the start of new Ford Ranger production at Pretoria’s Silverton Plant.
Now for some hyperbolic quotes:
“Following the investment of over R3-billion in our local operations and extensive upgrades to our plants over the past 18 months, we are delighted to see the first of the new Ford Ranger models coming off our production line,” says Neale Hill, Managing Director, Ford Motor Company Sub-Saharan Africa Region.
“This is an extremely important and exciting year for the Ford Ranger, which will also see the launch of the first-ever Ranger Raptor that is undoubtedly one of this year’s most highly anticipated new models,” Hill adds.
“The 2019 Ford Ranger will deliver more power, greater fuel efficiency, enhanced refinement and even more advanced technologies when it goes on sale in the coming months, and we are confident it will once again set the benchmark in the extremely competitive pickup segment.”
Among the burgeoning range will be the new 2019 Ford Ranger Wildtrak headed to South Africa in the coming months. We imagine Ford’s suffering from severe FOMO with Toyota scooping all the recent headlines with its Dakar-winning Hilux so in a sharpened response they’ve uprated the flagship Ranger Wildtrak to resume the skirmish against Hilux at the top of the monthly sales.
Straight to the big discussion point is Ford’s 10-speed automatic gearbox first used in the Mustang but completely groundbreaking for the bakkie genre with claims that it can reduce fuel consumption by 10 per cent. Yet we’re interested to see how effortlessly it’ll manage around town since the Amarok’s 8-speed was always too busy for our liking.
Replacing the 2.2-litre TDCi engines are three new downsized diesels. The EcoBlue 2.0-litres 4-cylinders are available in either 97kW, 340Nm or 127kW, 420Nm and follow a path first blazed by the Amarok, but curiously with less power. Ford will be hoping that the 10-speed gearbox will close that small gap and give them the edge.
The most powerful of the three new engines in the Ranger Wildtrak being the 157kW, 500Nm lump which is unlikely to receive the same roaring disapproval from the internet as it did in the Ranger Raptor. Although unconfirmed, this could spell the end for the 3.2-litre engine.
