First look: 2022 Ford Ranger & Everest (Endeavour)! V6 and plug-in hybrid coming

G'day, I'm Paul. Recently we published an exclusive story on the 2022 Ford Ranger and the Ford Everest, or the Ford Endeavour as it's known. The story was really well received, and I know that because it was shared a lot and copied a lot, but some of you asked why we didn't do a video on it. Well, we kind of asked ourselves the same question, so let's get into it. Let's kick things off. Where is this information from? Well, I can't tell you my source because I'd have to kill you. Just kidding, I'm not going to kill you, but I've got two confidential sources, and both of them have intimate knowledge of the design and also the future engine lineup, and I use both of those sources to put all of this information together. This is all correct as it stands right now. This may change between now and 2022 slash 2023 when these cars are released, but as it stands right now, this is the information. It's all accurate. That's all I can say without killing you. Let's run through what we know. We're going to start with the engines, and the 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel engine is gone. That's going to be killed at the end of this current generation of Ranger and Everest slash Endeavour. They've had a good run with it. It came out with the T6, and it's been used both across the Mazda BT50 and the Ford Ranger, and it's still currently the standard engine that's available. Instead, Ford's going to be moving to a two-litre diesel. It's a four-cylinder twin turbocharged diesel engine. All of the engines you're about to hear will use a 10-speed automatic transmission. This is the transmission that's been co-developed between Ford and GM. It's used in a number of Ford products globally, and it's also currently in use with that two-litre diesel engine. The 10-speed auto has proven to be pretty good so far, but Ford did, as we record this, just release a recall for about 20,000 cars with issues with that 10-speed automatic that they're currently working through. And do let us know in the comments below, have you got a Ranger or an Everest that has had problems with that 10-speed automatic? We're quite keen to hear from customers who are part of that recall or have had other dramas with their 10-speed automatic. The two-litre diesel makes 157kW of power and 500Nm of torque. We've driven Rangers and Everest with this engine before. It's a really good, hardy engine. It's good for towing, and given that it's a twin turbo diesel, you get a lot of torque down low from the first turbo and then more torque at the top end from the second one. The big news for both Everest and Ranger is that a three-litre V6 diesel is coming. This is a turbocharged V6 diesel. It was released in the F-150 last year, and it's a pretty decent engine. It's going to give both the Ranger and the Everest a big kick in the pants. It produces 190kW of power and get this 600Nm of torque. So that's going to give these cars some serious grunt, and it's going to mean when you tow things closer to the end of that 3,500kg brake towing capacity, that it's going to feel a whole lot more effortless. When we've tested the Amarok before with the four-cylinder versus the V6, you just feel like you're towing less of a load with the V6. You're not having to get a run-up to overtake other cars. So, a V6 diesel is going to be very welcome to both the Ranger and the Everest when it finally does come out. The biggest news though is that plug-in hybrid is coming to both Ranger and Everest. Now, this technology is extremely important for Ford because as companies move towards a greener image, a lot of big fleets, councils, government agencies, they all want to bring their CO2 levels down, become carbon neutral wherever they can. They're going to go down the path of opting for these plug-in hybrid cars because they get free driving range with electricity and then also a reduced driving range with that hybrid drivetrain as the plug-in hybrid capacity runs out. Plug-in hybrid, of course, uses a battery pack that sits beneath the car. It gives you around 60-100km of pure electric driving range. Outside of that, it's all then a hybrid system that helps it get along and save fuel. In terms of the engine, it is a 2.3L turbocharged 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine and it's going to produce 270kW of power and 680Nm of torque. This engine hasn't been used anywhere else in the Ford range before, so as far as we can tell, the Ranger and the Everest will be the first two cars in the Ford family to get this plug-in hybrid drivetrain and it'll also mean that the car will be extremely efficient. That should mean around 3L per 100km in fuel economy. Now, before we jump into the pictures, I want to run you through just a little bit of background between Ford and Volkswagen. They struck up a partnership recently that means that Volkswagen is going to develop a city-size van, like the next generation of Caddy, so that will wear a Ford badge and a Volkswagen badge. And Ford is doing development of a dual-cab commercial vehicle and also a large van, so that means that the Ford Ranger will also be a Volkswagen Amarok. They're likely to share the same engines, they'll just have different badges and a slightly different design. The platform that both the Ranger and the Amarok are going to share is a modified version of the T6 platform. The T6 platform was originally developed here in Australia through Ford's Asia-Pacific division and it borne the Ford Ranger and also the BT50. Since then, the Ford Ranger has been updated to add things like electric power-assisted steering and they also developed a slightly different platform for the Ranger that's used in the US, along with the Raptor as well. So it will be that platform with a few modifications that will generate the next generation of the Ford Ranger, the Ford Everest slash Endeavour and the Volkswagen Amarok. So there are all the facts that we've been able to put together from our confidential sources. If you want to see more detail, because there is a stack more detail, you can use the link in the description which will take you to carexpert.com.au where we have that news story. But now let's get into the design and see what both of these are going to look like. These are computer-generated images, they've taken information from our confidential sources plus images already on the internet and we've given them to our designer to come up with this design. And I'll tell you what, I absolutely love the look of it. What you're seeing here is the Ford Ranger in Wildtrak trim, that's right up at the top just beneath the Raptor. It has a really aggressive front end on it that's been derived from the new F-150. You can see around the outer rim there, LED daytime running lights and also LED headlights. A big bold grille and we know that the Wildtrak and the off-road spec models are going to have a honeycomb grille, just gives the car a really aggressive appearance on the road. You're going to know this is a Ranger as it approaches you. If you look off to the side of the car, we have new wheels and also the plug-in hybrid port. Our understanding is it will be up the front of the car, you open that port to plug in for your electricity charge for the Ranger. Obviously if you don't get the plug-in hybrid you'll just have a normal fuel cap. Around the back of the car they have employed LED taillights, this again has been derived from the F-150. They really make the car stand out at night and often with these utes they all kind of look the same at the rear, so being able to differentiate them a little bit is going to help. You'll also notice there on the bumper bar there is a side step, so that means if you do have stuff in the back of the tray you'll be able to step up on the side, reach in and grab it and it'll be pretty easy to do. Ford also implemented as part of the Raptor a suspended tailgate, so that means when you do open it it's spring-loaded and it's easier to open and close and we think they're going to carry that over. They may even integrate a step-up like they do in the F-150, so that's a step that folds out of the tray, makes it easier to get into the tray to retrieve items. Okay, over to the Everest. This is the thing that has me quite excited, that's because the Ford Everest to date has been basically just a wagon version of the Ford Ranger, and while it is called the Everest it is known as the Endeavour in other markets. What you're seeing here is the Wildtrak X. The Wildtrak X is a new model that Ford's concocting. It's effectively going to be a hardcore off-road version, it's kind of like a Raptor version of the Everest, except not quite as extreme. So we hear that it's going to have Bilstein shock absorbers and big chunky BFGoodrich KO2 tyres, similar to the Ford Ranger, so it should mean that you can do some pretty hardcore off-roading in it. You're not going to be going to do jumps and that kind of thing, but as you can see here it is really meaty and I seriously love the look of it. Look at that front grille, again you've got the LED daytime running lights, the LED headlights integrated into there, and what we've done here is just put in that plug-in hybrid port so you can see what that would look like. You have the rock crawlers on the side and if you jump around to the back of the car, Ford has again gone down the path of those LED taillights to make this stand out at night. They've gone a bit Explorer on the rear too, so it gives it a bit of definition. It makes this feel a lot bigger than the current Everest, makes it feel a little less like a wagon-based version of the Ford Ranger. Final one is the interior. Our source says that the interior will have a setup similar to the Ford Marquis, which is Ford's new electric car based on the Mustang. So 12.8-inch portrait screen and then an LCD screen in front of the driver. This will simply bring Ford into the next generation of interiors for commercial vehicles and we've seen the new Hilux update kind of looks very much the same, so Toyota's going to want to get up with the game if they really want to compete with the next generation Ranger. Very excited to see how Ford's going to make the interior of the Ranger and the Everest feel a little less industrial looking with hard surfaces and that kind of thing. We don't want it blowing up our hardness tester. What has Ford said about all this? Well, we put these questions to Ford to see whether they would provide a response and unsurprisingly enough, they didn't really want to say too much, which is a good sign that tells us this information is probably right. But if you want to see their full responses, you can head to our website and the link is in the description that will take you to the full news story with Ford's full responses to our questions. So what's my take on all this? Well, I'm personally a really big fan of the Ford Ranger and the Ford Everest. Both of those cars, I mean, if you put aside the fact that they were engineered and designed here in Australia, you know, patriotism and all that sort of stuff, they're both really good dual cab utilities and also a ute based SUV. But the thing that really makes them shine is how versatile they are for towing, for comfort and for off-road driving. So they really do tick all those boxes. The Ranger Raptor then takes it to the next level because you can do jumps in it. I've done jumps in it before and any ute that does jumps happily without breaking is a good ute in my opinion. So that means that Ford has a problem on its hand. It's like a 911. How do you improve a 911 without annoying people? And Ford has to do the same thing here with the Ranger. They have obvious abilities to improve technology because it is a little backwards in technology. In fact, all utes are. And also the introduction of a plug-in hybrid drivetrain will give Ford access to a few more customers who want to try and reduce CO2 levels, but still need a dual cab ute for their business or their agency if they're within the government. What does this mean for the other competitors? Well, they could be in trouble. Toyota has committed to having a hybrid across its entire lineup by 2025. That'll include utes like the Hilux. The Hilux is currently the best selling dual cab ute in Australia. The problem is Hilux hasn't really caught up in terms of technology or in terms of the way they present the interior and the way that the car drives. So Toyota has just revealed a new update for the Hilux, but it isn't a big change from the current one. And they'll want to have a really impressive hybrid system out there pretty soon to compete with a plug-in hybrid. That sits one step above a regular parallel or series hybrid like you'd find it in the Prius or a Camry. So is this next generation Ranger and Everest a good thing or a bad thing? Well, in my opinion, it's only a good thing, but there's a caveat to that. This technology needs to work flawlessly. Ford goes and plugs a plug-in hybrid into the Ranger. This is a vehicle that someone is going to drive across the centre of Australia. There is a lot of nothingness out there. You want a car that's easy to fix and you can get serviced anywhere. When the car's out of warranty in five years' time, you don't want to have to keep taking it back to Ford to have it fixed. So this technology is going to have to be complex so that it meets the requirements of fuel efficiency. But equally, it's going to have to be simple enough so that you can't find yourself stranded in the middle of the desert and not be able to fix the problem that you've got. If it's all electronic stuff and the car's not working, what's the point? And that's why Toyota have been very smart with their strategy on Hilux and stuff like 70 Series Land Cruiser. Some of the switches in those cars were used in the 70s. I'm exaggerating there, but they keep them as simple as they can for the reason that if you do break down somewhere, you can fix it yourself or find a part just around the corner in a Toyota dealership. So let us know in the comments below, what do you think? Are you excited for all this stuff? Do you have any questions? I'll answer as much as I can. And no, I can't tell you who my confidential source is, but for all of the details, you can head to our website. The link is in the description. We have the full write-up there with all of the details you could ever want, but really appreciate you guys spending the time watching. While you're here, if you have enjoyed this video, hit the like button, hit subscribe as well, and also press the bell icon. It's going to tell you every single time we publish something new. 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