Ford in New Zealand has revealed a new member of the Everest range with a familiar name, but it has yet to be confirmed for Australia.
The 2023 Ford Everest Wildtrak borrows styling cues from the related Ranger Wildtrak, and slots in between the existing Sport and Platinum variants.
“Everest Wildtrak is an exciting new addition to the global Ford Everest line-up, but we have no news to share about an Australian introduction,” said a spokesperson for Ford Australia.
CarExpert understands Ford Australia will likely offer the Everest Wildtrak here.
Revealed in the Ranger Wildtrak’s signature Luxe Yellow, exclusive to Wildtrak models, the SUV shares the up-spec ute’s front-end styling, including its grille insert and the Bolder Grey trim elements that continue down to the bumper.
There are also matching wheel lip mouldings, fender vents and mirror caps in Bolder Grey, plus the Ranger Wildtrak’s recently introduced 20-inch black-and-silver alloy wheels.
Also shared with the ute are the Cyber Orange stitching elements inside the cabin, adorning the leather/suede-accented seats, as well as the dashboard, doors and shifter.
The front seats also feature embossed Wildtrak wordmarks, as well as heating and ventilation and 10- and eight-way power adjustment for the driver and passenger, respectively.
Confusingly, Ford’s press release lists the standard inclusion of a 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster as in the Platinum while its New Zealand website mentions only an 8.0-inch digital cluster. The latter is understood to be correct, based on the photo above and the presence of the 8.0-inch unit in the Ranger Wildtrak.
As with the Platinum, the only powertrain available is the Everest’s 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 producing 184kW of power and 600Nm of torque, mated with a 10-speed automatic transmission and a full-time four-wheel drive system.
It arrives in New Zealand in July, with pricing to be announced closer to launch.
The Ford Everest range varies slightly depending on the market. The base Ambiente, for example, isn’t offered in New Zealand or Thailand, with the latter market also missing out on the Platinum in favour of a slightly different Titanium+ variant.
The Everest narrowly missed outselling the Isuzu MU-X in Australia last year, with sales up 23.4 per cent to 10,314 units – just 673 units shy of its arch-rival, though the new-generation Ford only arrived mid-year.
Ranger Wildtrak 
Everest Platinum
The Toyota Prado remained at the top of the segment in sales, with 21,102 sales. It remains to be seen whether the Everest can come closer in its first full year on the market.
While Ford has already expanded the Everest range with a 4×2 four-cylinder version of the Sport, don’t expect an Everest Raptor.
Ford says there was a lack of demand for such a model, preventing the project from ever getting off the ground.
MORE: Everything Ford Everest
