Ford debuts Ranger in New Zealand at Boat Show

Thursday, 12 May 2022

Ford New Zealand has debuted the new Ranger ute at this weekend's New Zealand Boat Show in Auckland.

If you are keen to get an early peek at the new Ford Ranger before it officially launches here, then it would pay to get along to the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show at the Auckland Showgrounds this weekend, as Ford New Zealand has a trio of the new utes on display there.

Ford New Zealand has brought in three early production display units for show attendees to see for the first time, including Wildtrak and XLT models with the 2.0-litre biturbo four-cylinder diesel engine, as well as a Sport that is packing the new 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6.

The 2.0-litre biturbo four-cylinder diesel carries over from the current Ranger and produces 154kW and 500Nm, while the new 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6 that replaces the 3.2-litre turbo diesel inline five pumps out 184kW and 600Nm. Both engines use Ford’s 10-speed automatic transmission.

The new Ford Ranger is debuting locally this weekend at the New Zealand Boat Show in Auckland.

Ford will also offer a single turbo version of the 2.0-litre engine with 125kW/405Nm with a six-speed auto in the entry XL model, as well as the 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 that produces a hefty 292kW of power and 583Nm of torque in the range-topping Raptor. The Raptor also gets the 10-speed transmission.

* New Ford Ranger prices revealed

The Sport packs the new 3.0-litre diesel V6 engine, and looks particularly good in Meteor Grey.

* Ford reveals new Ranger's big numbers

* Ford unleashes the beast: 292kW Ranger Raptor revealed

Ranger pricing starts at $46,990 for the XL single cab/chassis model and tops out at $89,990 for the Raptor. Ford New Zealand Managing Director, Simon Rutherford, said that early orders for the new Ranger have been heavily in favour of the diesel V6, with the company now holding more than 3000 orders for the new ute, which will launch locally in July. Rutherford also said that the Raptor was attracting significantly more interest than the previous model, which was already very successful for Ford.

Seen in the metal the new Ranger’s F-150-inspired squared-off styling gives it the expected boost in road presence, with the bold C-shaped lights being an even more distinctive feature than in photos.

On the inside, the new interior is a step-up in quality, with a similarly upright, squared-off design to the exterior. The dash is dominated by the large central touchscreen and the graphics and displays seem very clear and logical in their layout.

It was only a look, however, as the trio are pre-production early build models and can only be driven by Ford employees. While such vehicles are usually crushed after their promotional duties, Ford New Zealand has arranged to donate the three Rangers to the Manukau Institute of Technology for use in their automotive technologies courses.

Unsurprisingly, Ford representatives at the show say that most of the questions they have fielded about the new Ranger have centred around its towing capabilities, closely followed by “Where’s the Raptor?”

The Wildtrak and XLT are on display at the Ford stand EX26 while the Sport is on display at the NZ Fishing News stand in Hall 1, stand 177, and the show runs from today until Sunday the 15th.