A day before the all-new 2022 Ford Ranger’s launch in Australia on 11 July 2022, Ford Australia were already sitting on over 17,000 orders with over 4,000 of those for the flagship Ranger Raptor alone, according to Go Auto.

It’s an unprecedented amount of orders for the market with insiders attributing it to pent-up demand and tax write-offs as well as the incoming new F-150, the bigger sibling of the Ranger that’s a clear inspiration for its styling.

The F-150 is expected to be priced at over the AUD 100,000 (~RM 304,500) mark; a princely sum for many Aussie truck buyers. Hence, the flagship Ranger Raptor that’s going for AUD 85,490 (~RM 260,000) before on-road costs (ORC) presents itself as a mighty tempting alternative. Even the Ranger Wildtrak at AUD 70,190 (~RM 213,700) + ORC is easier on the wallet without sacrificing too much in terms of style and performance.

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Furthermore, Australian Luxury Car Tax is not payable on certain commercial vehicles and depending on the vehicle’s payload over the passenger capacity, some high-end pick-ups such as the Raptor and even the Wildtrak could be spared the tax.

Despite the Ranger’s V6 being borrowed from the F-150, it was treated as a new engine by the development team and treated to a whole range of durability, calibration and validation testing to ensure it would fit the character and requirements of the new Ranger.

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Surprisingly, the Aussie Ranger will not be able with a manual transmission. You can only have a 6 or 10-speed torque converter automatic, depending on the engine attached to it.

Ford has assured users that the 10-speed unit can take quite a beating, having taken over 6 million kilometres of testing that includes more than 3,900 km of sanctioned off-road racing.

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Part of that off-road testing comprised the gruelling Baja 1000. Therefore, Ford expects regular use of the Ranger to not trouble the transmission, even the demanding Australian outback that would turn the lesser transmissions of other pick-ups into sawdust.

Expecting demand to outweigh supply with the glut of orders, Ford Australia has resorted to air-freighting parts where needed in a bid to alleviate supply issues before it gets out of hand.