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Ford is giving the remainder of the world a sporty plug-in hybrid pickup with 514 lb-ft of torque and 24 miles of electrical driving vary.
Ford has at all times been uncommon in the way it treats the US market in comparison with the remainder of the world. To be blunt, we normally get shortchanged. And it’s been taking place for a very long time, and there are various examples of it. Whereas Europeans had been zipping round in Ford Escort RS1600s and RS2000s within the early Nineteen Seventies, Ford was giving Individuals vehicles just like the Mustang II, a product of the Malaise Period. These Euro RS vehicles morphed into Eighties rally beasts just like the mid-engined RS200 whereas Individuals purchased boatloads of Taurses and LTD Crown Victorias.
Even vehicles that originally began as world vehicles (the precise car for each market) slowly deviated from that over time. Have a look at the 2nd-gen Focus for North America. Whereas we obtained a heavy refresh of what was basically the identical automobile that debuted within the late Nineteen Nineties in coupe and sedan physique kinds, European markets obtained a complicated Focus that was obtainable in every little thing from the new ST and RS sizzling hatches to a cabriolet that got here with a folding metallic hardtop.
When you’d assume a follow like this wouldn’t nonetheless be happening effectively into the twenty first century, Ford remains to be at it, and it’s carried out so with a car that will be a giant vendor if it got here to the US: a plug-in hybrid sport truck model of the Ranger.
To take a look at the place this deviated highway begins, it’s a must to return to the 2019 debut of the Ranger for the US. Ford was lastly getting again into the midsize pickup recreation by giving the US the Ranger it ought to have had for years. It additionally occurred to be a Ranger that had been on sale in the remainder of the world since 2015.
Quick ahead to 2024, and Ford refreshes the Ranger. However Ford served us sloppy seconds once more. It was a “newly refreshed” Ranger. However it was solely new to our market; this up to date model of the truck had been on sale in the remainder of the world since 2021, simply two years after Ford introduced the nameplate again to our shores.
The Plug-in Ranger We Can’t Have
Whereas this refresh launched welcome updates, comparable to bigger inside shows, USB ports, and the supply of a turbocharged V6, we missed out on a major replace to the Ranger. In mid-2023, rumors began swirling {that a} Ranger PHEV was coming to Australia and the US. Sadly, simply three months later, these rumors had been squashed by Ford. What’s ironic is that Ford introduced on the identical time it revealed mild specs on the Ranger PHEV: a 2.3-liter engine paired to an electrical motor and battery pack of unknown energy and capability with 28 miles of electrical vary (on Europe’s very beneficiant WLTP cycle). And none of it was coming to the US. The explanation? Now we have different choices.
Chatting with Automotive & Driver, a Ford spokesperson mentioned the Ranger PHEV wouldn’t be coming to the US as a result of “the corporate believes it gives options with the Maverick hybrid in addition to the F-150 hybrid and F-150 Lightning EV.” There are like 15,000 variants of the F-Collection, however one PHEV becoming a member of a hybrid and an EV can be an excessive amount of? An odd transfer by Ford product planners. A Ranger PHEV is one thing that US patrons would love. Give it some thought: till the Ram 1500 Ramcharger will get to market, there are at the moment no PHEV pickup vehicles on the market within the US. Ford might have carried out one other first prefer it did with the first-generation Escape Hybrid. Now, Ford is squeezing lime on a wound already lined with salt.
Enter the Ranger Ms-Rt
For 2026, the Ranger PHEV will get a brand new sport truck trim referred to as MS-RT, and it seems good. Outdoors, Ford says the styling is impressed by Ranger racing vehicles. The entrance facia includes a blacked-out grill with an built-in decrease splitter and facet skirts. Round again, there’s a roof-mounted spoiler simply above the rear window, a ducktail spoiler up and doing door, and one other decrease diffuser. A lowered suspension and 21-inch wheels wrapped round low-profile tires spherical out the outside modifications. None of that is only for present, although.
Ford says there’s precise tuned efficiency right here. The entrance suspension has revised dampers, whereas the rear has been retuned together with a 1.7-inch total drop; the rear spoilers improve high-speed stability and had been tuned utilizing aerodynamic laptop simulations. The observe width has elevated as effectively, ensuing within the flared wheel arches.
Efficiency Specs That Impress
Energy is fairly spectacular, too.
A 2.3-liter Ecoboost engine has been paired with a 75-kWh electrical motor and an 11.8-kWh battery delivering 25 miles of all-electric driving vary. Whole energy output is 277 horsepower and a full-size truck-like 514 lb-ft of torque. That’s sufficient to provide it a 7,700-pound towing capability. That energy will get routed by means of a 10-speed computerized and a full-time four-wheel drive system.
Inside and Styling Upgrades
Contained in the admittedly sporty inside, there are eco-leather sport seats that take a web page out of Hyundai’s N and BMW M’s styling playbook by having illuminated MS-RT badges (wildly, these illuminated badges are additionally on the floormats) and blue stitching all through. The sprint sports activities a 12-inch tablet-oriented display and a heated sports activities steering wheel with a blue-colored 12 o’clock place. It even is available in cool colours, such because the pictured Quick Blue, Turini Purple, and Yellow Inexperienced.
Ford additionally launched one thing that has no likelihood of coming right here, an MS-RT model of its E-Tourneo Customized van.
The E-Toureno Customized MS-RT will get barely extra energy than the Ranger at 281 horsepower. Consumers may also select between a 225-horsepower PHEV or a 167-horsepower diesel. The Toureno MS-RT receives the identical remedy because the Ranger, with 19-inch wheels, a lowered suspension, wider observe, nice colours (the identical because the Ranger MS-RT along with Ultramarine Blue and Sundown Orange), and sportier styling inside and outside.
Again to the Ranger MS-RT. Might we ever see this factor on our roads? Possibly, and it’s a giant maybe that leans in the direction of no. First, the truth that MS-RT (which stands for M-Sport Highway Know-how) isn’t some new efficiency model for Ford. It grew out of a partnership between British motorsport model M-Sport and Ford; the motorsport model had been constructing the automaker’s WRC vehicles. Second, Ford made it clear that the Ranger PHEV has no place within the US lineup.
Ford might additionally see one thing like a Ranger PHEV as a gross sales risk to the Maverick and F-150 Hybrids, in addition to the F-150 EV. The solely means one thing like this might ever see American streets can be as a Ranger Lobo to enhance the not too long ago launched Maverick and F-150 Lobos. Ford simply must make a Ranger PHEV work for the US market, with or with out the MS-RT remedy.
Consumers would line up money in hand simply off the EV driving vary and engine torque alone. A PHEV pickup is a superb car answer that will work for a lot of. However till Ford realizes this, we’ll need to proceed to look at the Ranger PHEV and its cool-looking MS-RT trim from afar whereas we lick the injuries of the gaping gap that’s open with out this factor in Ford’s US lineup.
This submit initially appeared on Day by day Rev and has been republished with permission by Guessing Headlights.
