The Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid (PHEV) ute isn’t yet on sale in Australia, but it’s already made history within the brand’s local operations.
Due in Australian showrooms next year, the Ranger PHEV will be Ford’s attempt at giving local buyers a cleaner and more frugal version of its best-selling model.
In a bid to refine the Ranger PHEV for Australia and global markets, Ford has built a prototype of the ute at its New Model Programs (NMP) facility at the former Broadmeadows Assembly Plant in Melbourne.
Its completion marks the 1000th prototype to be built by the NMP team, which uses the ‘Plant 2’ building that produced Ford Broncos and F-Series pickups in the 1970s, as well as components for the AU Falcon in the late 1990s.
100s of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
After Ford wound up local production on October 7, 2016 with the last Falcon rolling off the line, Plant 2 evolved into the new home for NMP operations as well as a warehouse, briefly pivoting to making face shields through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prototypes of the current-gen Ranger and Everest were made there, while its last pre-Ranger PHEV project was collaborating with tuning gurus Herrod Performance on the factory-backed, Australia-only supercharged Mustang R-Spec.
Now it’s gone from supercharged to battery charge, as the Ranger PHEV becomes the facility’s first electrified vehicle to be built – reflecting changing demands in the industry.
“It’s fitting that the Ranger PHEV is the 1000th prototype for NMP, and shows how Ford remains at the cutting edge of local vehicle development and is putting Australian skills and workers on a global stage,” said Vince Ciocca, NMP plant manager.
However, as with the best-selling turbo-diesel Ranger and the high-performance Ranger Raptor, the Ranger PHEV won’t be built in Australia.
Instead, it’ll come from South Africa, as the Thailand factory which currently produces all examples of the Ranger for Australia doesn’t have the tooling for the turbo-petrol engine which powers the PHEV.
As such, the Ranger PHEV will incur a five per cent import duty as we don’t have a free-trade agreement with South Africa, unlike Thailand.
Ford is yet to confirm the Ranger PHEV’s specific drivetrain outputs, other than its turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine will be mated to an electric motor and high-voltage battery.
More details will be announced tonight at the IAA Transportation Show in Germany.
MORE: Everything Ford Ranger
MORE: Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid ute spied in Australia ahead of local launch
MORE: Ford Ranger PHEV revealed
