New Ford Ranger arrives in Australia

The first shipment of all-new 2023 Ford Ranger customer vehicles has arrived in Australia from Thailand, as you can see from these images posted to Facebook group Ford Ranger Next Gen Owners Australia.

Plenty of pre-production prototype versions of the next-generation Ford Ranger have previously been spotted undergoing testing in disguise around Australia, where the all-new ute and its new Everest sister SUV (both based on the same third-generation T6 ladder platform) were developed.

But this is the first time we’ve seen final customer versions of the new Ranger in the wild and in all their glory Down Under since the world debut of Ford Australia’s new best-seller in November 2021.

These social media images show the first batch of new Rangers in a holding yard in Adelaide, after they were unloaded from a car-carrying ship that’s believed to be heading to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane next.

As you can see, the majority of 2023 Rangers to arrive so far are high-spec Sport and Wildtrak variants, as per Ford Australia’s ‘top-down’ launch strategy for its new Toyota HiLux fighter.

High-tech new bi-LED ‘matrix’ headlights, which have been optioned by the majority of early Wildtrak adopters, can be seen on at least one vehicle here, despite the fact they will be in short supply initially due to China’s COVID lockdown and the global semi-conductor shortage.

However, China’s draconian pandemic measures have also delayed the launch of the blue oval brand’s vital new Ranger itself, because it employs 393 unique parts from 91 suppliers affected by the Shanghai lockdown, according to a Ford Australia dealer bulletin in April, when new Ranger pricing was also announced.

Since then Ford has announced another month’s delay, with first deliveries of the new Ranger now slated for July, followed by the new Ranger Raptor and Everest in August.

Further delays are possible and some Ford dealers are now quoting six-month wait times for new customers orders for Ranger Sport and Wildtrak vehicles with certain paint colours and options.

Unsurprisingly, Ford is recommending that customers check with their local dealer to see what vehicles are available and when.

“As a result of continued strong demand for Ford vehicles, along with ongoing constraints due to the ongoing effects of COVID-19 including the lockdown in China and the global semiconductor shortage, vehicle availability varies across Ford’s vehicle range,” Ford said.

Ford has very limited stocks of the outgoing Ranger remaining, as evidenced by its most recent monthly registration figures, and has already deleted some standard features to keep production going, but it would not reveal if it will make further spec changes, delete any model lines or variants, or push any other new model launches back.

“As we run out current model Ranger, supply is tightening and there is limited stock available on some variants,” said Ford.

“With the on sale of Next-Gen Ranger around the corner, interest is strong with dealers indicating very high levels of enquiry, especially for Ranger Raptor and Wildtrak.  

“As we run out current model Everest, strong demand continues with stock levels tightening on some variants.

“We have stock of our award-winning Puma compact SUV arriving in showrooms.

“Demand for our Mustang continues to be strong, we have limited stock of Mustangs, with waiting periods on most variants into Q4 2022.

“Interest in the Escape continues, but limited supply means there are waiting periods on some variants into Q4 2022.

“We apologise to any customers who are facing longer than anticipated wait times for their new vehicles. We are working hard to get as many vehicles to Australia as possible, and reiterate that as the supply situation continues to evolve, we encourage customers to reach out to their local dealer, who is best placed to advise on local availability and wait times.”

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