TEASED: Hybrid Ford Ranger To Be Revealed Next Week

TEASED: Hybrid Ford Ranger To Be Revealed Next Week

All will be revealed on September 19.

Ford UK has released a new teaser on its social media channels that points to the imminent arrival of a new Ranger variant on September 19. The ten-second clip gives us a brief glimpse of the truck but doesn’t provide much to work with.

The caption, however, clues us into what it could be: “Why compromise if you could get the best of both worlds?” Accompanied by a lightning bolt, we believe this could be an electrified version of the midsized truck. Last year, CarBuzz discovered that Ford filed a patent for the Maverick and Ranger Lightning names.

At the time, we surmised that an all-electric Ranger was possible but said a hybrid or plug-in hybrid variant would be more likely for now. The “best of both worlds” bit of the caption suggests it’s the latter, so we may see the first-ever Ranger PHEV debut later this month.

Why compromise if you could get the best of both
worlds? ?? ??

Stay tuned for more exciting news from #FordPro.

19.09.23 pic.twitter.com/qhVa79KIdS

Last year, Ian Foston, chief engineer for the new Ranger, shared that the T6 platform (which also underpins the new Volkswagen Amarok) was designed to accommodate electrification. “[It has the] capability for full electrification,” said Foston. He added that the Blue Oval has “a bandwidth of electrification hardware that enables us to go anywhere from a 24-volt mild hybrid all the way to a [fully] electric version.”

The US-spec Ranger is available with a four-cylinder 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine that produces 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque. There’s also a twin-turbocharged 2.7-liter V6 with 315 hp and 400 lb-ft. These are sufficient figures for a pickup truck, and a plug-in variant must match or surpass these numbers. Therefore, we doubt Ford will use the 210-hp 2.5-liter Atkinson-Cycle engine from the Escape PHEV.

However, the 310-hp four-cylinder engine found in the new Lincoln Nautilus could be up to the task. In the luxury SUV, the engine is mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT), something we feel Ford would never put in a midsize truck like the Ranger. Overseas reports suggest Ford will pair the 2.3-liter engine with an electric motor, but this is yet to be confirmed.

With Ford committed to electrifying its entire lineup, we fully expect the so-called Ranger Lightning to arrive in the United States. The automaker could offer customers a robust range of electrified pickups, ranging from the entry-level Maverick to the fully-electric F-150 Lightning. We anticipate a Ranger EV will arrive towards the end of the decade. Before then, Project T3 will arrive in 2025 as the automaker’s next-generation electric truck.