The original plan for the launch of the new Ford Ranger Wildtrak was to be no later than March 2012. The floods in Thailand last year caused delays in coming on to the market both in Australia and New Zealand. It has finally arrived a full nine months after the examples of the Ute were first shown last year.

Ford Australia is saying that the supply of all models is freeing up as the Ranger’s production plant in Rayong gets back to proper production. The sales figures in Australia between January and May 2012 for Ute type vehicles have been encouraging if somewhat measured due to the slow economic conditions.

Australian Ute Sales by Vehicle
January – May 2012.
Vehicle:	Sales:
Toyota HiLux	15,000 plus units
Nissan Navara	10,000 plus units
Mitsubishi Triton	7,500 plus units
Ford Ranger Wildtrax	5,000 plus units
Mazda BT-50	4,500 plus units

The demand for the Wildtrak has been encouraging with the vehicles that are arriving now only being accessible to fill any existing orders.

The number of other Wildtrak options arriving in showrooms has nearly doubled since the beginning of this year so the dealers are starting to get good numbers of all these models.
The launch of the well-equipped, sports-themed Wildtrak brings the number of options in Wildtrak line-up to 21 in total.

There is a six-speed manual option and the six-speed automatic; the Ranger Wildtrak is more expensive than the Ranger XLT.

The Wildtrak has a distinctive front grille, sports bar and roof rails, exterior mirrors with puddle lamps, black tailgate handle, accented steel rear bumper, 18-inch alloy wheels and Wildtrak badging and graphics. The Wildtrak is also available in the exclusive Chilli Orange hero colour (featured here).

Inside, the Wildtrak gains a five-inch multi-function colour screen with satellite navigation and rear-view camera display, eight-way power driver’s seat, heated front seats and rear floor mats. The centre console gets a carbonfibre-look finish while the seat upholstery combines leather and cloth with contrasting orange stitching.

The Ranger Wildtrak is available exclusively with Ford’s 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel engine, which produces 147kW of power (at 3000rpm) and 470Nm of torque (1500-2750rpm). The manual variant uses 9.4 litres of fuel per 100km while the auto is marginally thirstier at 9.6L/100km. Both have a braked towing capacity of 3350kg.

Supply shortages have meant the Ranger has made a slow start to sales in 2012. Sales of 4×2 variants are down 4.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2011, while the 4×4 is 26.8 per cent off last year’s pace.

August 2012