Ford Ranger 2026 News

Ford Australia said the brand was confident it would maintain its position as the second best selling brand in the nation thanks to the “never seen before” response to the new Ranger Super Duty.The Blue Oval's Australian Marketing Director Ambrose Henderson said the brand was “really confident” in its plans for next year, despite renewed pressure from both established and upcoming rivals.Ford depends heavily on its best-selling Ranger ute for its impressive sales of nearly 100,000 units in 2026. It now faces a renewed push from Kia with its long-awaited Tasman and BYD shaking up the ute space with its smash-hit Shark 6 PHEV, and that’s not to mention Toyota and its recently-refreshed HiLux range.Henderson said continued updates for the Ranger and Everest line-up, including wider availability of the V6 now the 2.0-litre bi-turbo has been axed, as well as new variants and incremental content upgrades would see the ute continue to fend off the competition.But the biggest source of new sales will be the Ranger Super Duty, Henderson said.“We’re still in the launch phase for Super Duty” Henderson explained. ‘We expect to have a really successful year on that in 2026 — our expectation is that it is going into white space and will be an incremental opportunity for us.”By this, he means the Super Duty was unlikely to cannibalise existing Ranger Sales, and instead will enter a new category where fewer rivals are able to compete.The Super Duty is a unique offering in the Australian market. Much more than simply another Ranger variant, the Super Duty is almost entirely new underneath, with an up-gauged frame, new suspension, heavy duty axles and even a new transfer case. These allow it up to 8000kg of GCM and push it into a category above most dual-cabs.“The initial response has been incredible," said Henderson. “Right back from when we first announced the nameplate - we were flooded with a response we’ve never seen before.”While he wouldn’t yet share numbers - these should become available around this time next month when the first round of VFACTs figures drop for 2026, he said the models available now were just the beginning of what the true volume the new ute has to offer.“The more retail pick-up and XLT are launching later this year, and we’ve got really strong order banks for those as well. The response has been really overwhelming,” he said.While the true scope of Super Duty is yet to be seen, Ford can chalk up a handful of other segment wins despite being slightly down for the year, by 5.8 per cent. The Ranger-based Everest off-roader is number one in the Large SUV segment, while Mustang leads the sports car pack. Plus, the brand had a record year for its Transit van range.There are storm clouds on the horizon for Ford. Rivals are circling with new options and the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which places heavy fines on high-emitting engines such as Ford’s diesel V6, poses a threat as Ford is not selling enough electric cars to help alleviate its fleet average.The critically well-received Mustang Mach-e for example, only found 483 homes over the course of 2025.“We’re in the most competitive automotive market in the world — within that, everyone is fighting really hard,” Henderson said.“We’re happy with the performance we have in that EV area, but we’ll have more transitional technologies over time.”“If you think about where Ford does really well in providing that capability to travel around Australia and be able to do those kinds of 4x4 activities - there still needs to be more of an investment from an infrastructure point of view to make those things more viable,” he said.

It’s 2026, and this year will mark a decade since Ford ended manufacturing in Australia, with Holden and Toyota also ending local production a year later. So, who’s making the cars we love now? And by who, we mean which countries?Here are the top five countries that made our favourite cars in 2025.Australia’s love of European cars is ongoing but that appears to be coming off the boil slightly with 2025 sales of cars built in Germany dropping to 54,905, down by 2639 units on the year before.Doing the heavy lifting are models such as the Volkswagen Tiguan and Golf, along with the Mercedes-Benz GLC and GLA SUVs which are made in Germany for Australia.It’s unlikely Aussies will stop treating themselves to cars from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen anytime soon, if ever. But as you will see the gap between prestige-niche (prest-niche?) and mainstream models could grow increasingly larger as Chinese offerings head further upmarket while keeping prices low.Hyundai and Kia are the big two Korean carmakers, with KGM (formerly SsangYong) struggling but still hanging on. Between the three they made 149,966 of the cars bought by Aussies in 2025. That’s down from 157,760 in 2024.Australians love models such as the Hyundai Kona and Santa Fe and Kia Sportage which are all made in Korea for our market. The drop in the number of Korean-made cars we bought could be attributed to the biggest mover in the top five manufacturers. Enter China.Number three today, number two tomorrow? Possibly sooner. The popularity of Chinese-made cars accelerated dramatically from 2024 to 2025, the overall number going from 176,159 to 221,699. Yes, an increase of 45,540 cars (+26 per cent), almost the total amount of German-made cars sold in 2025. Impressive.Chinese-made models such as the BYD Shark 6 ute, GWM Haval Jolion and MG ZS SUV have been snapped up by Aussies in their tens of thousands.As with any race, the battle between third and second place is often more riveting than what’s going on in first and China is breathing down the neck of Thailand right now.It might surprise you (or not at all) to know that Thailand came in second place for 2025. But only just, with 249,958 cars made for Aussies, which is down from 272,139 in 2024.What cars does Thailand make? Pretty much every ute on sale in Australia and utes are hugely popular here.Yep, from the Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max and Mazda BT-50 to the Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Toyota HiLux. Thailand is a ute powerhouse.Japan is our winner for 2025 as the country which makes more cars that we buy than any other nation. Japan made 358,981 of the cars Aussies bought and that’s up from 241,296 in 2024. Carrying the heavy end of this big number is Toyota with firm Aussie favourites such as the RAV4, Corolla, Camry, Corolla Cross, Land Cruiser and Prado.By now you know the Toyota HiLux is made in Thailand, but did you know the Kluger is built in the United States for Australia? You do now.

These are officially Australia's favourite cars.

Aussies love their diesel utes but with crunching emissions regulations coming into place, it’s unclear how much longer they will reign supreme.

Nissan has clarified its two-pronged ute strategy for Australia from 2027, while potentially introducing a third contender in the process.Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone suggested the traditional diesel approach with the Mitsubishi Triton-based N27 would not be enough if market growth goals are to be achieved.This comes as all brands scramble to make the right product decisions now that electrified competition as well as carbon legislation are demanding different solutions than before.“In terms of going forward, this segment is very much a key pillar in our brand portfolio, as is Patrol (full-sized 4WD SUV),” Humberstone said.“It's then, ‘how do we manage these two core products?’, which are very strong in terms of brand awareness in the market and strength of our brand, and manage the NVES (New Vehicle Efficiency Standard) and CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy US federal regulations) on the other side of the spectrum?’“How do we create that balance? So of course, we have to look at other options, which is why we're looking at product portfolio going forward.”This builds on what the global car industry veteran told CarsGuide a few weeks earlier, where he mentioned the Frontier Pro plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that debuted at last April’s Shanghai auto show, as a strong proposition.“New Navara and Frontier Pro together? Oh, yeah, absolutely,” Humberstone revealed. “And it wouldn't be one or the other. I would absolutely see an opportunity for both of them (in Australia).”Since then, Nissan confirmed the Frontier Pro for Australia at a gala event in Adelaide by flying one out especially for the evening, just one day after pulling the covers off the D27 Navara in the same city.Additionally, and quite unexpectedly, turbo-charged petrol and diesel variations of the Frontier Pro were announced.This suggests that premium and possibly high-performance versions of the ute, which is based on partner Dongfeng’s Z9 dual-cab pick-up, may also join the local line-up to wrestle head-on with the Ford Ranger Wildtrak.Such an ambitious ute strategy is in line with the steps Nissan is taking on its road to rebuilding in Australia.“We've had a lot of work to do, one on building brand, one on building customer retention,” Humberstone admitted.“And, in between, the key component here is around sourcing a product… but (with reduced supply and profitability) we're looking at is a new product portfolio.”Finally, while the new (D27) Navara will arrive as dual-cab 4x4 diesel auto-only proposition initially, other styles and variations are at the ready should Nissan require them.This could include a version of the hybrid powertrain that supplier Mitsubishi is developing for its Triton fraternal twin.“Where we stand today, (that specification) represent 90 per cent of the portfolio,” Humberstone said.“(But) given shifts in regulation, given shifts in customer demand, given shifts in opportunities and profitabilities, we have the flexibility to look at that over the lifecycle of the product.“But the starting point, almost top-down strategy in essence, is ‘let’s go with 90 per cent of the volume is in the market’. It doesn’t mean we don’t re-evaluate over time, but that’s certainly the starting point.”And, this, of course, is not including the Navara Warrior flagship, more of which will be announced sometime during 2026.If nothing else, Nissan will be very busy in the ute segment over the next couple of years. Watch this space.

Is the latest Toyota HiLux a strategic error or a masterstroke in product development?

Ford has all but signed, sealed and delivered a new type of Bronco for Australia. According to our sources, the Toyota RAV4 mid-sized SUV rival is set to arrive late next year as the belated 2027 replacement for the unsuccessful Escape that was dropped in 2023. Despite looking very similar, note that this is not related to either the monocoque-bodied Bronco Sport SUV, or the much-beefier Bronco 4WD off-roader that’s built on the T6 Ranger platform. Launched in 2021, both are very popular North America-focused models not earmarked for our market.

Ford has been hit with another recall notice, this time on some of its most popular variants.

Despite a huge onslaught of fresh competition in the Australian ute market, November new car registration figures show established players continue to lead the category by a healthy margin.

Toyota has finally confirmed its desire to introduce the Tacoma to Australia as soon as possible, as part of a wider ute strategy that will crucially also involve – rather than supplant – the HiLux. The intention would be for the N400-series one-tonne ute unveiled in North America back in 2023 to eventually sit above the newly-restyled HiLux in this country, as a larger, premium proposition.