Australia's Ford Ranger PHEV to be made in South Africa, increasing price pressures

Ford has confirmed that the highly anticipated tear-in hybrid Ranger ute will be constructed in South Africa which would per chance also imply that native investors face elevated than expected prices.

Aussie-spec Ranger hybrids will be constructed at the identical Silverton Meeting plant that’s the only manufacturing source for the contemporary-know-how Volkswagen Amarok – which is constructed by Ford for VW.

At the 2nd, Australian non-PHEV Ford Rangers are constructed in Thailand with which Australia has a free-alternate settlement, then once more there would possibly per chance be no longer one of these settlement with South Africa.

The car will attributable to this truth be area to extra import tariffs of 5 p.c that the customary Ranger isn’t, which is able to place extra stress on pricing for the more ambiance pleasant model.

Two outcomes of this are that Ford can also opt up decrease income margins in deliver to sharpen the Ranger PHEV’s tag – or it’s going to also pass on the tariff in portion, or in tubby, to clients.

Even supposing Volkswagen imports the Amarok from South Africa, facing the identical tariff area, interesting product planning has made some variants of that ute strongly aggressive with the Thai-sourced Ranger lineup.

Both manner, pricing for the PHEV is expected to be elevated than the diesel V6 given the inclusion of extra substances such because the battery and electric motor.

Where will the PHEV take a seat in the Ranger lineup?

It’s likely that the PHEV will change into one of doubtlessly the most costly Ranger powertrains – and potentially doubtlessly the most costly – reckoning on what grades are supplied.

At the 2nd, Ranger pricing starts at $36,180 for the entry-stage ‘XL’ grade 4×2 single-cab chassis which comes with a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel, and tops out at $86,790 for the vary-topping Raptor grade which facets a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine.

Ford has already confirmed the PHEV will characteristic a turbocharged 2.3-litre petrol inline four-cylinder paired with an electrical motor that the corporate says can drive on purely electric energy for 45km.

The tag has no longer but confirmed output figures, even supposing it’s talking up the incontrovertible truth that the PHEV will advise more torque than any assorted variant – laying the groundwork for the hybrid to be pitched at the highest price halt of the vary.

For comparison, the contemporary vary-topping Raptor delivers 600Nm of torque from its 3.0-litre unit.

It hasn’t been confirmed how Ford will spec the PHEV in Australia. It’s imaginable the tag can also rob a more vary-topping manner, or potentially plan it readily accessible with several of the contemporary Ranger’s seven grades – old images have showcased the PHEV in ‘Wildtrack’ guise.

Ford’s South African-focused press liberate has additionally detailed the off-boulevard focused ‘Tremor’ variant basically basically based on the XLT. Nonetheless, it hasn’t but been confirmed if we’ll look for this model in Australia, nor if this would possibly per chance per chance well well also be paired with the PHEV.

Vital funding into South African plant for electrified car production

Ford has detailed its US$272 million (about $425 million AUD) funding into its Silverton Meeting plant in South Africa, which is able to be upgraded to manufacture the Ranger PHEV – and potentially assorted electric or electrified fashions in future.

The funding will look for a brand contemporary battery pack assembly plant constructed inner the Silverton facility and additionally an toughen to Ford’s South African chassis plant in deliver with a aim to accommodate the queer configurations required for the model.

South Africa has lengthy manufactured petrol and diesel variants of the ute, even supposing Australia has repeatedly sourced its lineup from Thailand.

Here’s the first time Australia will be importing Ford vehicles from the country, which would per chance also come as a surprise to a couple of. Nonetheless, a call of things would have performed a element in the resolution.

Silverton is the only factory that affords Rangers to Europe, a necessary market with grand tighter emissions rules the put a Ranger PHEV will be area to elevated assign a question to.

Sourcing the Ranger from South Africa is advantageous for Ford of Europe, since the European Union has an Economic Partnership Settlement with South Africa which removes custom tasks on imports of vehicles to Europe.

The Silverton factory is additionally the only manufacturing plant for the Volkswagen Amarok. Whereas there hasn’t been public comment from Ford a pair of Ranger BEV, a fully-electric e-Amarok has been confirmed, with Silverton the obvious role for manufacturing that car.

With a battery assembly facility space to be installed at Silverton, no longer only is the stage space for mass production of the Ranger PHEV – nonetheless fully-electric variants now peek a step nearer to actuality.

Chasing Vehicles has contacted Ford Australia for comment.