Record breaking Ranger! How the Ford Ranger has achieved classic-era Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon popularity, with help from Toyota Prado

What a way for the last-ever Australian designed and engineered mainstream vehicles to hush their critics and (eventually) bow out in glory.

Two years on from the local debut of the latest Ranger ute and Everest SUV, record sales for both closely-related models are elevating the Ford twins to similar levels of popularity enjoyed only by the most beloved Australian cars in local automotive history.

Already snatching the number-one title from arch-enemy HiLux in 2023 to end the Toyota’s seven-season run on top of the charts with 63,356 versus 61,111 registrations, year-to-date Ranger sales have jumped up 20 per cent, putting even greater distance between the two top sellers.

And here’s the cream on top for Ford.

Demand for the once-struggling Everest has soared, to a whopping 95 per cent from January to July this year, comfortably beating the Toyota Prado for the first time, at 13,438 to 3519 units respectively. It has even overtaken the rampaging Isuzu MU-X that, at 11,535 sales, is also enjoying a moment in the sun due to a 38 per cent increase.

Furthermore, combining Ranger and Everest sales – remember, they are basically the same vehicle developed at the same time and built at the same place – means that the twosome is already rewriting Australian motoring history. In 2023, they sold 78,427 units together. Doing the same with HiLux and its SUV sister offshoot also sourced from Thailand, the underwhelming Fortuner, totalled 64,730.

Now, when you factor in the year-to-date sales trajectories of all four models, there is a possibility that the Ford duo could approach or even break through the 100,000-unit barrier by the end of this year, compared to around 70,000 for the Toyota twins.

Ford hasn’t enjoyed that level of series success since the Falcon sedan, wagon and ute – essentially the precursor to today’s Ranger/Everest line-up ­– managed around 93,000 registrations in 2003 in the-then new BA guise.

The earlier EF range nearly hit 90,000 sales in 1995 while the XE passed 82,000 in 1982 ­– the same year Ford broke Holden’s 29-year streak as Australia’s number one brand, and maintained that status for the rest of the Eighties.

Similarly, the VT Commodore sedan, wagon and (VS III) ute range still holds the Australian annual-sales record, with over 94,600 units in 1998; through VX and VY, sales did not dip below 83,000 until 2004.

Quite an exclusive club for the Ranger/Everest to join. Ford should consider adding the Ranger prefix to the SUV to further boost its chances of surpassing the VT’s record. After all, Ranger is widely considered to be the best driving and most comfortable body-on-frame ute available anywhere in the world today.

Indeed, when global sales are considered, the Ranger is far-and-away the most successful Australian vehicle of all time. Period.

So, how long can the Blue Oval’s purple patch last?

All this activity seemingly vindicates Ford Australia’s decision to put all its eggs (as well as the hens that lay them) in one basket, that has resulted in a reversal of fortune for the organisation that is currently sitting in second spot behind Toyota for the first time since the 2000s.

However, that position had long been held by Mazda, and the Japanese brand seems poised to return there on current volume trajectories.

Of course, right now, Toyota is on the ropes to some degree, with the arthritic HiLux now in its winter years, the equally geriatric Fortuner failing to gain any traction and even-older Prado suffering from almost non-existent supply after years of protracted waiting times.

But all are on the cusp of new-generation model activity, and Toyota’s formidable marketing machine will doubtlessly hit overdrive when they finally come on stream. Today’s lower-than-usual sales are no indicator of consumer disinterest in the brand’s products.

And then there’s the Ranger Car Company syndrome.

Worryingly long term for Ford is its oft-criticised over-reliance on Ranger/Everest sales in Australia, as they account for a staggering 90 per cent of all volume year-to-date. In contrast, HiLux/Fortuner run at less than 25 per cent – which is the same as Mazda’s bestseller, the CX-5 mid-sized SUV.

This seems to be typical Ford behaviour, as the brand was long known as the Falcon Car Company from the first XK of 1960, and right up to when Falcon sales started to fall along with large-car demand generally from the mid-2000s, in the wake of surging oil prices and the emergence of SUVs. The Broadmeadows execs hated it back then and likely seethe at the sound of it now.

History shows the original Ranger contract Ford Australia won around 2007 for a 2011 launch was what saved it from the same fate as Holden, since the latter was too-heavily invested in the VE/VF Commodore program and the crucial export earnings that never eventuated to pivot as fortuitously as its foe did.

But pivot again, Ford must.

As more ute rivals emerge moving forward, from the next-gen HiLux and latest Mitsubishi Triton-based Navara to newcomers like the Kia Tasman and seemingly infinite flow of Chinese alternatives, will the Ranger and Everest be able to sustain their current momentum?

With the eventual, Ranger replacement due towards the end of this decade expected to be based on an all-new scalable and electrified-ready truck architecture shared with the next F-Series pick-up and currently under development in Detroit, Ford Australia will likely need to broaden its offerings.

It’s understandable why the local outfit hesitated to import (the ironically Ranger-based) Bronco, Explorer and, yes, even the smaller, car-based Maverick dual-cab ute that is taking North America by storm, when they’ll all likely cannibalise Ranger and Everest sales. But Bronco, Explorer and Maverick might be exactly what Broadmeadows needs when the Ranger and Everest models start to run out of steam. That could be in six months or six years.

For now, though, it can revel in the Ranger and Everest’s success and make hay while the sun shines. The signs suggest that sales are unlikely to fall off a cliff any time soon. And credit where credit is due – these Australian vehicles are world class.