When the rest of the world gets a desirable car America can’t have, it’s usually some sports car like an Alpine A110 or a homologation special like a Toyota GR Yaris. The Ford Ranger Super Duty is a bit different. This diesel midsize truck with full-sized towing capacity isn’t coming to America, but it’s an Australian pickup worth pining over.
While the F-150 is sold in Australia, it’s a bit, well, big. Most parking spaces down there just aren’t laid out for full-size American pickup trucks, making a midsize truck more practical for tradespeople. At the same time, sometimes you need more capability than you can pull out of a regular midsize pickup truck, so the Ranger Super Duty is meant to be a tough-as-nails truck for one of the toughest environments on Earth.
It starts with a full steel front bumper for added durability against things like boulders and uncaffeinated skid steer operators. Rising to meet the grille, it looks the business and features Raptor-like contouring for increased tire approach angle over a standard Ranger. Also new on the front end, check out that bulging hood with “Super Duty” stamped into it, and those widened fenders with chunky flares. Add in a snorkel to grab clean air from up high in dusty conditions, and the result is a midsized truck that looks even tougher than the Ranger Raptor.
Take a closer look at those wheels wrapped in 33-inch all-terrain tires, and those eight-lug hubs are a clear sign that the Ranger Super Duty isn’t just for show. A reinforced frame, stronger axles, and the grunt of a three-liter turbodiesel V6 all do their part to offer 9,920 pounds of towing capacity. That’s right up there with what several F-150 variants boast, and actually should out-tow any F-150 with the 2.7-liter Ecoboost V6 and five-liter V8 SuperCrew models with 3.15:1 and 3.31:1 axle ratios. Oh, and the Ranger Super Duty will be available with front and rear locking differentials for serious off-road traction.
Moving inside the Range Super Duty, it all looks familiar in here with one major optional addition. Since work fleets may feature their own in-cab devices, Ford’s offering an airbag compatible mount to prevent aftermarket working electronics from turning into projectiles in the event of a crash. With a weight limit of 8.8 pounds, it can handle even the beefier ThinkPads in Lenovo’s lineup, the laptop of choice for engineers and people who just want a tough-as-nails laptop.
While a steel bed pickup like we’re used to in North America is planned, the Ford Ranger Super Duty will first launch in Australia as a chassis cab that looks absolutely awesome with a tray on it. It feels like a shame that the current U.S.-market Ranger isn’t available as a chassis cab, considering the original Ranger was, especially with how badass this Super Duty looks.
Sadly, the Ford Ranger Super Duty isn’t coming to America, but it’s easy to see why. The half-ton pickup truck is the default mode over here, and although an F-150 is bigger than a Ranger, most places in America are sized for full-size pickup trucks, and the versatility of a crew cab with a 6.5-foot bed fits better with American needs. Still, we can dream, can’t we? A Ranger Super Duty would make a great rival to the Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter as an American mid-sized overlander.
Top graphic credit: Ford
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You know what I want? A truck with an actual bed, not a 3 and half foot long box.
I just bought a diesel 4×4 Datsun 720 for 700€. It’s putting any new truck bed to shame.
The tariffs and the chicken tax guarantee this truck will never see the light of day in the USA.
I want one and I would sign myself into debt to have one.
What’s the future of on road diesel regulation these days? After Musk leaves the US govt, is Lee Zeldin gonna give us our good oil burners back?
Tim over at Pickup Truck and SUV Talk gave a great report about it.
Trump is Rolling Emissions Back to 2020 – What It Means for Your Truck
Whatever he does it takes 3 years to go through the mandated regulatory process to rewrite the regulations. In his first term he left emissions standards along but changed CAFE. He started in 2017 and the new rule went into effect in May 2020.
For heavy duty diesel emissions federal law requires them to be finalized 3 years before they go into effect. That means without Congress changing the law EPA 2027 will go into effect. Then there is CARB which Trump has no control over.
Also with Diesel gate and the weird alternate emissions rules of diesel in the US versus everywhere else is pretty much the nail in the coffin on small efficient diesel anything over here. The EGR problems with tried and true big diesels also reduces the benefits of the cost associated with going diesel.
US diesel emission standards are more lenient than in the EU.
Australia is about a decade behind the EU
Sadly, ain’t gonna happen- The marketing minions at Ford see every Ranger sale as a lost more profitable F150 sale. It doesn’t occur to them that Ranger and F150 appeal to whole different markets…
Yep, even if could meet US emission standards without major effort, Ford has never done anything with the Ranger that could threaten a F150 sale. They were willing to put a V8 in the Explorer, but never in the Ranger. Quite a number of Ranger enthusiasts would grab a wrecked Explorer and do a transplant.
The 3.0L diesel engine was already CARB and EPA certified for the 18-21 F150 so I doubt it would be that difficult to put it in the US spec ranger if they really wanted to but they won’t.
EPA Tier 4 phases in from 2027 to 2031. That requires a pretty large reduction in NOx and requires gas cars to meet the same PM standards as diesels. This will require particulate filters on most gas DI turbo engine. (The 2025 eco boost Maverick already got a GPF to start booking emission credits)
I wonder what they’d have to price the Ranger at to make equal profits per unit. Presumably high enough that sales would drop dramatically, which would then decrease profit per unit. So maybe there’s just nowhere on the price/sales volume chart where they make equal profit, and the Ranger only exists to steal sales from other manufacturers?
This is the same engine they used to put in the F-150 (2018 – 2021). When Volkswagen and Ford went joint venture on the Ranger/Amarok they decided on this unit over the Volkswagen 3.0L that the Amarok used to be equipped with. It’s a decent engine, but I think the Volkswagen TDI would have been a better option.
Sure, when you pick out the configurations least well equipped for towing. Every engine currently in the F-150 lineup can be equipped to tow more than that.
I’d be more curious about the comparison to the Ranger we do get. How much more tow capacity does this get relative to its direct comparable?
(and since I can, in fact, use Duck Duck Go myself, the answer is 7500 lbs for the US Ranger, so around 2500 lbs more)
Pfft. Ford barely cares about the Ranger in the States and offers no support in the form of rebates or special financing. Why bring another, even more expensive, model here if that’s the case?
That being said, I had a 2019 Ranger and would get another before ever considering an F150. Those are too damned big, but we Americans really love BIG.
Agreed. I got a ’22 Ranger because it was a right-size truck with best-in-class towing and Ford let me build one to my liking, something Nissan and Toyota would not even entertain.
Not sure what I’ll do if it ever needs to be replaced, though. The 6′ bed is just barely big enough for my use and it seems like there are no intentions of it coming back to the US-spec Ranger.
The idea of a midsize with a higher payload capacity is really appealing to me. Payload to me is the major limitation in the segment.
The new Aussie coal roller.
We need to spin up the CANZUK coalition and import these bad Mamma Jammas to Canada!
I haven’t heard that acronym before (it does rather look like the old anglo empire), and with apologies and sympathy to those Americans who still want to be friends, but as an Australian I’m happy to sign the CANZUK treaty.
I’d buy this if I had the money, but I don’t so I will continue using my 2002 F150 for truck stuff despite its measly payload and 8000lb tow rating. The tray or flatbed looks tough and is better for pallets and hay bales but it raises the bed substantially. We do have flatbed pickups in the US for working with gooseneck trailers or carrying welders, just check the parking at a livestock auction or a pipeline construction site
someone needs to combine the flatbed/tray with a Ridgeline style under-bed storage. Should be lots of space under and around the frame.
A lot of flatbed have toolboxes under the bed.
That would be the old Vanagon Doka and the Vanagon single cab pickup. It had a complete pass-through that they stole from Rivian (or they other way around), so you don’t need to remove stuff in the bed to access it
obligatory sh!t post:
I know this truck,
I ain’t no stranger.
I know that truck,
that’s a Ford Fuckin’ Ranger!
Mercedes, are you paying attention? Mikkeli just earned themselves a COTD.
Congratulations on your early win, Mikkeli! The rest of you better figure out a way to beat that. 🙂
I love your hierarchy of swear severity. Shit must be censored, but not fuckin’.
you can’t censor art, my friend!
That is pretty dang cool! The styling is sweet, and 8-lug wheels on a midsizer is pretty awesome! It’s also a kind of smart idea that I hadn’t really thought about. I mean, there’s no reason a truck needs to be physically large to tow large loads, if a smaller truck works better!
I have a few questions on this. Like how is the fuel economy on this truck? As where I live diesel is about $1 more then regular gas on most occasions. Also due to these being a non-US product do they have DEF and aftertreatment systems? If not that would require a whole hell of a lot of work to get one working over here. Still besides those this is a really cool truck and I would think about selling my Cummins and FJ if they had this kind of truck over here.
Australia is just moving to Euro6 standards at the end of 2025. That puts them about a decade behind the EU / USA and 5 years behind China.
This is a great truck, and it should come here but, to be fair, it should be compared to the F-250.
Looks good, but I´m out on a limb here, 4 door pickups look fucking stupid, bring back the regular cab 2 doors!
In a time where you can only afford to buy one new vehicle, most opt for one that can handle passenger duties as well.
America absolutely needs trays instead of stupid beds, so let’s focus on that!
My high school buddy (an actual farmer) had a heavy duty flatbed pickup in the 90s, and it was one of the first ones I’d ever seen. I still can’t believe that a flatbed (with drop-sides) isn’t the standard setup for pickups, with the option for body-matched, painted beds costing a lot extra. Instead it’s basically the opposite.
Imagine the volume of complaints about bed loading heights if flatbeds were standard!
It’s bad enough for regular beds.
Yeah, fair point, but I think the ergonomics of being able to load from chest height, from all angles, mostly makes up for it. No need to awkwardly carry your stuff up a rear-mounted step and then put it down in the bed (or just load it all from the rear in the first place).
I’m not from OSHA, but I’m old enough that I think about ergonomics a lot more than I used to…
We have two flatbeds here. With the drop sides down on the VW it’s waist high. With the sides down on the Nissan (also fitted with a tipper) it’s belly button height.
I’d imagine there’s a fairly significant aerodynamic/fuel economy cost to pay for a tray bed like that, which would be unfortunate, especially on trucks that are mostly commuters
Nope. Can assure you there isn’t.
Ehhh I’ve delt with a few and it’s nice in certain field of work and a great annoyance in others. I liked it on the farm truck because we could load it from all sides. But at the same time you can’t just throw something in the back and take off because first turn it will slide out. Now I’m in small engine & housework and I can’t see using a flatbed
You gotta believe that if the consumer actually demonstrated there is a demand for this, the OEM‘s would offer it. Simply most people do not want that hence the beds we have now.
American needs?
Let’s be honest with ourselves.
How the rest of the world survives without needing an F150 could provide some insight.
If survival were the only goal of vehicular ownership, the entire purpose of sites like this would cease to exist.
Besides the fact that I strongly suspect if these suddenly became the default truck in the US, the usual crowd would still be out there screaming about brodozers and driving within one’s “needs”, as defined of course solely by the complainer.
You’re jumping right back to the same absoluteism as I’m callout out Thomas with.
I won’t disagree there’s a segment of the population that an F150 makes sense to claim a ‘need’. But if more buyers were being honest with need/want: the F150 wouldn’t be near as popular.
Why do you think it’s your place to question what other people buy?
Why does need/want even enter into your mind for anyone other than yourself?
No one “needs” anything more than a bus pass or a 20 year old Corolla. The fact that we can and do buy such a variety of vehicles that appeal to our irrational side is what makes this site great.
No one is taking them from you.
But don’t claim and defend “need” for everyone.
If you want a V10 powered Dodge Ram 1500, go for it.
This is an interesting little thread, which I expected to see here.
A few observations:
Australia’s population, despite its land mass, is congregated mainly in dense cities.
Rangers, Hiluxs, Amaroks, BT50s and similar (lots more Chinese utes now) are as common as muck. Many are used as the car gods intended. Others for the image.
Most Australians would consider them big, or big enough, unless you have a special use case.
We are now seeing more RAMS (there’s one 500m from where I live), and in my perception they’re monstrous in size, and I would venture 95% of that size vehicle are a life status accessory, rather than needs based.
Negative talk about the types of vehicles tends to centre more on common behaviors of the drivers and the prejudices of the talker.
Many Australians would judge that a big vehicle is an environmental drag and unsuitable to city driving, and if you pair that with common driving or attitude types, then you get some hate.
But, despite what you may have heard, we have freedom down here, so people can buy what they like, not what they need.
Whether I think there should be government rules or incentives to encourage people to abandon our increasing pursuit of gargantuan vehicles in favour of something more suitable could fill a whole series of articles.
This is a good point. Look at australian transit people or some metro Australia subreddits, and you’ll see hate for Rangers the way this site hate on F-250s
This is the correct take.
Countries where the Ford F-150 is sold.
United States
Canada
Mexico
Argentina
Chile
Brazil
Uruguay
Bolivia
Norway (Ford F-150 Lightning)
Finland
United Kingdom (through specialist dealers)
Australia
South Africa
Fiji
Panama
China (F-150 Raptor)
Surprised not to see anything from the Middle East on that list.
Me too.
When I was in UK last year I saw a few Rangers, but not F150. Not many pickup trucks in general. Trades seem to use work vans instead. Land Rovers pulling horse trailers.
I saw the same thing in Ireland. I bet taxes based on engine displacement has a lot to do with that.
And the narrow roads/alleys! We were driving a ‘small’ Ford Puma (Fiesta based?) and it barely fit in many parking spots (no backup cameras) and in one instance, barely fit over one tiny bridge to an AirBnB. Believe the roads appear to be based on horse/carts.
That definitely tracks. Thumbs up.
An English friend of mine bought a LHD F-150 in Saudi Arabia and brought to England. Makes for interesting trips on B roads.
Sounds like a great excuse to make a YouTube video.
That sounds terrifying to come across on a B-road with tight hedgerows/stone walls (with added fun of limited visibility). Let alone on a singletrack.
My brother-in-law was riding w/ him in the passenger seat as the owner pulled out of a side street onto the B Road. He saw an oncoming car and put his hands over his eyes, much to the consternation of the oncoming driver. ????
My brother-in-law was visiting him in the Midlands and the owner took B-I-L & wife for a ride. As the owner pulled out onto a B road, B-I-L put his hand over his eyes as an oncoming car appeared, much to the consternation of the other driver.
I absolutely agree that many trucks are huge and just haul sailboat fuel, but much of this site is devoted to inefficient, inconvenient gas-burning frivolities, and our commentariat sometimes seems to forget that.
We don’t.
Just as I don’t need multiple motorcycles for just me. But I chose to have them because I wanted them.