If you’re looking at the Australian Ford Ranger line-up and feel like the 21-strong range is missing something, this might be it.
Now on sale in the UK is a single-cab Ford Ranger with a tub – one of the few permutations of the best-selling ute we don’t get in Australia.
In fact, Australia has been without a tub-equipped single-cab Ranger since 2018, when the entry-level XL 4×2 was priced from $29,190 before on-road costs.
At present, the Australian Ford Ranger is only sold with a tub in super and double-cab guise, with the single-cab remaining exclusively as a cab-chassis offering starting from $36,880 before on-road costs.
The UK-delivered, South African-built Ranger single-cab is sold exclusively in base XL trim, with its tub able to accommodate loads up to 2332mm in length – or 785mm longer than the double-cab in Australia.
As with Australian-delivered, Thailand-built versions of the Ford Ranger, the UK’s XL single-cab ute is also only available with a single-turbo 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, producing 125kW of power and 405Nm of torque.
Unlike the latest-generation Ford Ranger sold in Australia, all XL and XLT variants in the UK are equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, rather than the 10-speed automatic. The manual was killed off locally when the previous-generation model reached the end of the road in 2022.
Excluding the UK’s 20 per cent value-added tax (VAT), the Ford Ranger single-cab with tub is priced from £28,275 before on-road costs – equivalent to $56,700 in Australia, without our own 10 per cent goods and services tax (GST) applied.
It is unlikely we’ll see this unique ute in Australian showrooms, given the low uptake of the last version sold locally.
Last month Ford Australia trimmed the Ranger’s local line-up, cutting four variants from the range to slim down its offerings to only 21 grades.
MORE: Everything Ford Ranger
MORE: 2024 Ford Ranger price and specs
MORE: 2024 Ford Ranger Wildtrak V6 review
