Lone Ranger: Ford teases next-gen pickup

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Blue Oval engineers have been busy with the upcoming Ford Ranger, set to appear sometime in the latter part of this year. Now, the company’s European arm has released a teaser video showing off the new truck’s off-road chops.

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As is typical of a teaser video, it’s tough to discern styling and other finer details. Still, it’s easy to tell the next-gen Ranger headlamps will share much with the F-150, earning a type of ‘C’ shape not present on the current truck. Oversized taillights remain, with reverse and turn signal lamps appearing to be perched atop the lens. Six-lug wheels shod with Bridgestone Duelers are present and accounted for, as are a couple of body configurations — both SuperCab and SuperCrew models are shown.

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Lone Ranger: Ford teases next-gen pickup Back to video

While anything is possible at this stage of development, there is an encouraging glimpse of a brightly-coloured shock absorber at 0:44 of the video (below), suggesting there may be some sort of aggressive off-road spec in the cards. Whether that takes the form of a beefed-up Tremor or full-blown Raptor remains to be seen.

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It is definitely worth mentioning that this video is courtesy of Ford Europe, not the Americas. This is a notable distinction, since there are multiple Ranger trims and engine offerings in other markets which are not available here on this side of the pond, to say nothing of the fact the current Ranger was on sale in those countries long before it was adapted for North American tastes and put on sale in this country a couple of years ago.

Fine print in the video specifies the footage was shot in the rough and hirsute environs of Australia and New Zealand, two such markets which enjoy a Raptor variant of the current Ranger. Some of the test mules shown are right-hand drive, as you’d expect for that country, though at least one of the vehicles has its steering wheel on the left. This gives us hope that not as many features and trims will be lost in translation when the next Ranger shows up in Canadian dealers.