The Ford Ranger Super Duty is threatening to disrupt a reasonably established segment, where the likes of the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series reign supreme.
For years the LandCruiser 70 Series, especially in 79 Series ute form, has been the byword for reliability and dependability in harsh conditions, used by farmers, mine sites and off-road adventurers.
Now the Ranger Super Duty threatens to knock it off its perch, coming at a time where the 70 Series lineup has effectively been slimmed down to a four-cylinder engine shared with the HiLux, amid the final few months of life for its turbo-diesel V8.
The standard Ford Ranger is already Australia’s best-selling vehicle and has been for the past two years straight, with a third consecutive title in the balance.
According to Ford Australia CEO Andrew Birkic, the Ranger Super Duty isn’t a threat to the standard Ranger, and will instead take sales off other, unnamed products.
“That conversation has to happen quite early on in the process, because to get the funding, you need incrementality in the program,” Birkic said when asked about where Ranger Super Duty customers will come from.
“From our point of view, if we were just selling to Ranger customers, that doesn’t work. Our assumptions are built on ‘there’s some substitution’, but the vast majority is built on ‘we are going to drive incremental business’, if you draw from other segments and competitors.
“We’re here to win. Don’t worry about that. We’re not here to make up the numbers.
“Ranger is the top-selling car two years in a row, [it] will be three years in a row [if it holds its lead over the Toyota HiLux]. We’re the number two brand in Australia. We’re here to win.”
Since the current-generation Ranger went on sale for the first full calendar year in 2023, it has been the best-selling vehicle twice, and holds a narrow lead over the HiLux in 2025.
It’s not yet known what category the Ranger Super Duty will fall into, as the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ monthly VFACTS deliveries report only has three segment splits for utes: 4×2, 4×4 and over $100,000.
The LandCruiser 79 series is counted in the 4×4 segment, and so far in 2025 has averaged almost 900 sales a month, down just over 13 per cent compared to the same period last year.
By contrast, the standard Ranger 4×4 alone manages approximately 4400 sales a month, though it too is experiencing a 10 per cent decline on 2024.
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