News Ltd has published images of what it claims to be a prototype of the much anticipated SUV version of the current PX Ford Ranger, which it claims is due for public release in the second half of 2014.
The truck-based (i.e. body-on-frame) heavy duty SUV will be the second derivative from Ford’s award-winning T6 light truck program which has already produced the widely acclaimed PX Ranger one-tonne pickup and its Mazda BT50 sibling.
These images, reportedly snapped by a Carsguide reader with a smartphone (which would explain the rear window heater cores running across the first image) were claimed to have been taken on the Princes Highway on Melbourne’s outskirts.
If these shots are genuine (we are skeptical about everything in this digital age!) it looks like Ford engineers have cut-and-shut a Ranger pickup front and a Territory SUV rear for these testing purposes.
News Ltd claims this vehicle carries the wording ‘Left Hand Drive’ and ‘Engineering Evaluation Vehicle’ on the tailgate and that it is one of several prototypes currently being tested on Victorian roads and at the company’s vehicle proving ground at You Yangs. TJ