The Ranger is the most affordable pickup truck in Ford’s foreign line-up, but it is yet to be seen if the American automaker decides to bring it to the Indian market
The Ford Ranger was originally introduced for 1983 as the first compact pickup truck produced by the American carmaking giant. The Ranger sits below the F-150 in Ford’s line-up, and serves as the smallest Ford pickup truck. Now, a white coloured test mule of the Ranger pickup truck has been caught on test in Coimbatore, sparking various rumours.
The spied Ranger seems to be the base model of the pickup truck, and is a either a crew cab or double cab (four-door) version of the pre-facelift third-gen Ford Ranger. It should be noted that the Ranger is basically a pickup truck version of the Ford Endeavour, known as Everest in other international markets.
This is not the first time that the Ranger has been spied on test in India, since the pickup truck was also caught on camera about a month ago, undisguised. The latest test mule was seen sporting red registration plates, suggesting that the vehicle is brand new, straight from the factory.
The vehicle could also have been brought to the country by Ford to test the platform. For those of you who are unaware, Ford Motor Company and Mahindra & Mahindra formed a joint venture which will be the basis for both Mahindra and Ford compact SUVs to come.
The compact SUVs will be underpinned by Ford’s VX-772 Platform, and will come equipped with Mahindra’s all-new mStallion range of turbo petrol engines under the hood. Included in the mStallion range are three different powertrains, i.e. 1.2-litre TGDi, 1.5-litre TGDi as well as 2.0-litre TGDi units.
The 1.2-litre turbo petrol unit will debut on the Mahindra XUV300 Sportz Edition, originally showcased at this year’s Auto Expo. The said engine is also expected to be offered with the EcoSport at a later date. On the other hand, the 2.0-litre TGDi unit is currently deployed on the new-gen Thar, and is also expected to be offered with the upcoming Ford C-SUV, as well as the next-gen Mahindra XUV500.