Next generation 2030 Ranger (7th gen) already in development

[Intercontinental_Ranger]

I hope they continue developing the Ranger there. I've had four Rangers that have been developed there (2017 Ranger, 2021 Ranger Raptor, and two 2023 Ranger Raptors) and they seem much better put together and developed than my 2023 Ford Bronco! Also, the A/C in the two 2023 Ranger Raptors are the coldest I have ever had in a vehicle!

It helps to read between the lines with stuff CEOs say.

Farley knows how popular the Ranger is in Australia and the pride that it’s Australian designed.

It might have been a lazy attempt to stir up some concern - maybe to try and get some subsidies/tax breaks from the government.

Sounds like they didn’t fall for it though.

Ford has a lot of infrastructure and talent there and the Ranger is wildly successful worldwide. Investors would be pissed if he screwed that up

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[jensht]

It helps to read between the lines with stuff CEOs say.

Farley knows how popular the Ranger is in Australia and the pride that it’s Australian designed.

It might have been a lazy attempt to stir up some concern - maybe to try and get some subsidies/tax breaks from the government.

Sounds like they didn’t fall for it though.

Ford has a lot of infrastructure and talent there and the Ranger is wildly successful worldwide. Investors would be pissed if he screwed that up

I agree, it sounds like he wants some sort of deal from the Australian government and is trying to force their hand by saying they'll pull out the engineers if they don't give in. I doubt standing up an entire engineering team in China or Vietnam would be so easy they could do it during the development cycle of a vehicle.

 

[Texasota]

It might have been a lazy attempt to stir up some concern - maybe to try and get some subsidies/tax breaks from the government.

Sounds like they didn’t fall for it though.

Exactly, it was a pure negotiating tactic with the Aussie government. Highly unlikely that Ranger development leaves Australia.

 

[purdyd]

The Tacoma is already larger than the Ranger. The current Ranger does not split the difference very well between the Maverick/Fathom and the F-150. Growing the Ranger by a modest amount results in the Ranger better slotting between those two.

The Ranger sales numbers are far behind the Tacoma, GM twins and even the Frontier. If Ford is happy with that, then the company is in trouble.

MAP production capacity will be largely maxed out with the Bronco, Bronco pickup and Lincoln Bronco. TTP needs a product to build and that is where the Ranger replacement will land. There likely will be other models built there also.

‘depends on what you are comparing, the beds scale nicely. Towing capacity scales.

the truck the ranger is competing with in the rest of the world, is the hilux which is smaller than the Tacoma and ranger

good or bad, Ford seems to be focusing on keeping margins on sales instead of volume.

the Lincoln bronco and bronco pickup are just rumors. And I cant imagine either would be a huge seller. I think Ranger production could coexist with those.

Producing the Ranger with an entirely different platform on the same assembly line seems to be very inefficient way to do business.

if Ford was really convinced that 2029 or 2030 they would be selling a lot of midsize trucks, I think we would be seeing more ramp up of the ranger now.

Maybe that happens in 2027? But demand and production seem to be about correct right now. With inventory somewhere between 2 and 3 months of sales. If the inventory was lower, that might trigger more production.

https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/threads/ranger-sales-production-report-august-2026.32597/

 

[Texasota]

Producing the Ranger with an entirely different platform on the same assembly line seems to be very inefficient way to do business.

if Ford was really convinced that 2029 or 2030 they would be selling a lot of midsize trucks, I think we would be seeing more ramp up of the ranger now.

I agree that it would be very inefficient if it is as you described, but I don’t think that is what we will see. I’m betting that the two new Bronco variants and the next gen Bronco at MAP and the next gen Ranger replacement at TTP will all be built on the new T6.3 platform. The timelines for all four match up to that 2029 time frame.

We haven’t and won’t see a ramp up of Ranger production because Bronco production is highly prioritized over Ranger production which makes sense. Bronco has better profit margins than Ranger.

 

[purdyd]

I agree that it would be very inefficient if it is as you described, but I don’t think that is what we will see. I’m betting that the two new Bronco variants and the next gen Bronco at MAP and the next gen Ranger replacement at TTP will all be built on the new T6.3 platform. The timelines for all four match up to that 2029 time frame.

We haven’t and won’t see a ramp up of Ranger production because Bronco production is highly prioritized over Ranger production which makes sense. Bronco has better profit margins than Ranger.

building a t6.3 platform at TTP along with some other vehicle is inefficient compared with building all t he t6.3 platforms at one spot.

if you look at the production numbers by month, MAP could build more rangers. as shown in August, but elects not to. Again, the inventory and Monthly sales don’t support a demand for more rangers.

 

[Daweism]

Can we please get aluminum body panels like in the F150 and shave off a good 500 to 600lbs. This would be almost as strong of an upgrade as getting a V8 engine.

 

[Sharpix]

Outside USA, the Ranger 6g IS NOT MADE IN AUSTRALIA, its made either in South Africa or Thailand, so Ford doesnt need any factory or anything else on Australia. Ford closed the last australian factory in 2016. So just needs to import the truck there from thailand. There wont be any shock on any US operations if Ford ever leaves Australian design.

My 6G Ranger is madeSouth Africa (bought in Mexico) and lets say, for example the bed plastic side caps from an American Ranger Raptor fit perfectly. Most stuff will fit US and World versions easily.

Also, Ford is selling the Ranger 6g away in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Phillipines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and EVEN IN CHINA with a joint partner with a local brand. Its also sold in most places in the American Continent, from Mexico to Argentina.

This portraits the situation quite different from the US perspective. Ranger IT IS a neccesary model, if USA needs it or not. I dont think they will pull the design team from australia. They have done an amazing job and have given great capabilities on the regular ranger and many great accesories that USA doesnt get.

Asian and Australian accesories: bed Plastic bed liner with creases to fit wooden divisors for cargo versatility. Folding electric tonneau working on the stock keyfob and interior button. 2nd battery space Under the hood. Lights and accesories cabling, ready to connect stuff with dome switches. Pop Out Cup holders below the vents in either sides. The 4x4 on-demand awd setting, or the one-rear-wheel-braking to make tighter turns in the dirt. The rear locking differential even on a RWD cargo truck. The flashy plastic rollbar with side metal rails. The well sorted suspension for a pickup. Stock Stereo sound decent. etc etc.

Ford will stay designing the truck in Australia. Even if the costs are still high in Australia for keeping the team, the truck will be still made for regions of the world. The truck will still be made. Remember the F150 is mostly an American version available in fewer other markets than the Ranger.

 

[Johnny 5]

Can we please get aluminum body panels like in the F150 and shave off a good 500 to 600lbs. This would be almost as strong of an upgrade as getting a V8 engine.

I like that and highly agree....!!!

 

[superj]

Me too. I wish we had aluminum like the f150.

 

[Lion77]

I said this before, but the lifecycle of Ford's trucks is typically 6-7 years. For models that sell lower volumes, it can be as high as 9–10-year spans between new generations and after a certain point, it's very incremental.

2024 to 2030 is...you guess it, six years.

Here's what I think the Gen 3 Ranger platform will have: dual injection for ALL engine options, including the 3.0L in the Raptor, some more tech features / options packages, but at this point, mostly styling changes. The 10R60 transmission is pretty well debugged, and a lot of the "lessons" learned from the 10R80 were baked into the 10R60 from the start, with a few minor production / quality tweaks added into 10R60's after the first 2-3 years. If you got a problematic 10R60 now, it's most likely production / supplier related, not design.

Mechanically, there's not really a whole lot of new engineering to be done on the chassis either. It already has a fully boxed hydroformed chassis, outboard dampers, double wishbone frontend, multi-stage leaf springs (or Watts + 4-link with coil overs on the Raptor). What else are they going to do....?

Personally, I think the power boom in engines has mostly matured, turbo engines are pretty reliable now, but they are more maintenance sensitive, keep that in mind, but deliver in all the right ways as compared to their bigger bore NA counterparts. And NA engines have been massaged to the max. They aren't getting much better.

Think about the 2017 F-150 compared to a 2026 F-150. Functionally at a base level, they are pretty darn similar. The Gen 3 EcoBoost is definitely the final refinement of eliminating stupid problems like the single timing chain design in the Gen 1 and Gen 2 3.5L, the Gen 3's now have dual injection too which is more of a "quality of life improvement" rather than a game changing evolutionary leap.

I'm sorry, but unless there is a completely radical new engine option, maybe perhaps if the RR got a Gen 3 3.5L or a V8....maybe I'd trade in, or if they added suspension with 16 inches of travel (highly unlikely as it would be as wide as a Bronco Raptor and outclass the F-150 / BR off-road), it's very incremental.

The Gen 2 T6 platform was a significant improvement in major ways over the Gen 1 and is worth the upgrade, for many (or new buyers), but Gen 3's are going to be more of a "refinement" of the Gen 2's rather than addressing substantial design limitations. Maybe a hybrid option, but hybrid trucks don't see much fuel economy benefit due to the mass and already inherently high drive train losses, so the hybrid mostly adds starting torque for towing etc. But most turbo engines already produce diesel like low end torque...so it's even more moot.

Not like light duty cars and SUV's. Toyota's car and SUV hybrids are top notch and deliver significant real world efficiency gains, but their hybrid trucks deliver very modest and underwhelming gains over conventional power trains and in testing, can actually be slower because the added mass more than off-sets the additional power and torque! Personally, I think hybrid trucks are a misapplication of the tech and don't really deliver much in the real world. I'd take a diesel over a hybrid gas engine if you want torque.

Hence trucks are trucks and then there's everything else! Gen 3 ranger? Meh.

 

[jensht]

I said this before, but the lifecycle of Ford's trucks is typically 6-7 years. For models that sell lower volumes, it can be as high as 9–10-year spans between new generations and after a certain point, it's very incremental.

2024 to 2030 is...you guess it, six years.

Here's what I think the Gen 3 Ranger platform will have: dual injection for ALL engine options, including the 3.0L in the Raptor, some more tech features / options packages, but at this point, mostly styling changes. The 10R60 transmission is pretty well debugged, and a lot of the "lessons" learned from the 10R80 were baked into the 10R60 from the start, with a few minor production / quality tweaks added into 10R60's after the first 2-3 years. If you got a problematic 10R60 now, it's most likely production / supplier related, not design.

Mechanically, there's not really a whole lot of new engineering to be done on the chassis either. It already has a fully boxed hydroformed chassis, outboard dampers, double wishbone frontend, multi-stage leaf springs (or Watts + 4-link with coil overs on the Raptor). What else are they going to do....?

Personally, I think the power boom in engines has mostly matured, turbo engines are pretty reliable now, but they are more maintenance sensitive, keep that in mind, but deliver in all the right ways as compared to their bigger bore NA counterparts. And NA engines have been massaged to the max. They aren't getting much better.

Think about the 2017 F-150 compared to a 2026 F-150. Functionally at a base level, they are pretty darn similar. The Gen 3 EcoBoost is definitely the final refinement of eliminating stupid problems like the single timing chain design in the Gen 1 and Gen 2 3.5L, the Gen 3's now have dual injection too which is more of a "quality of life improvement" rather than a game changing evolutionary leap.

I'm sorry, but unless there is a completely radical new engine option, maybe perhaps if the RR got a Gen 3 3.5L or a V8....maybe I'd trade in, or if they added suspension with 16 inches of travel (highly unlikely as it would be as wide as a Bronco Raptor and outclass the F-150 / BR off-road), it's very incremental.

The Gen 2 T6 platform was a significant improvement in major ways over the Gen 1 and is worth the upgrade, for many (or new buyers), but Gen 3's are going to be more of a "refinement" of the Gen 2's rather than addressing substantial design limitations. Maybe a hybrid option, but hybrid trucks don't see much fuel economy benefit due to the mass and already inherently high drive train losses, so the hybrid mostly adds starting torque for towing etc. But most turbo engines already produce diesel like low end torque...so it's even more moot.

Not like light duty cars and SUV's. Toyota's car and SUV hybrids are top notch and deliver significant real world efficiency gains, but their hybrid trucks deliver very modest and underwhelming gains over conventional power trains and in testing, can actually be slower because the added mass more than off-sets the additional power and torque! Personally, I think hybrid trucks are a misapplication of the tech and don't really deliver much in the real world. I'd take a diesel over a hybrid gas engine if you want torque.

Hence trucks are trucks and then there's everything else! Gen 3 ranger? Meh.

The platform has been on the market since the end of 2021 outside the US. So from a lifecycle timeline it does make sense.

I would be shocked if hybrid and fully electric aren't going to be a thing. Being an international platform, this is going to be nonnegotiable in some markets.

I wouldn't be surprised if the next gen Ranger actually wasn't a major change, primarily due to accommodating a fully electric drivetrain.

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