Ford Ranger hybrid EV pricing & CRAZY specs: Has Ford been beaten by the Chinese?

CarExpert

Ford has just announced pricing and detailed specifications for the upcoming Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. And, as expected, the vehicle is more expensive than expected with disappointing specifications - especially on the powertrain front. Has Ford already admitted defeat to its Chinese competitors?  More Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid details: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/2025-ford-ranger-phev-plug-in-hybrid-ute-up-to-5000-more-expensive-than-v6-diesel  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Pricing: 00:20 Powertrain: 01:22 Mass/Capacity: 03:44 GVM/GCM: 07:04  Verdict: 08:42  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #ford #ranger #hybrid

Transcript

00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So Ford has just announced pricing for the Ranger plug-in hybrid ute and as I expected

00:05it is expensive and I'm going to run through some of the key specs that have also come out now which

00:11makes me think this thing could be an absolute dud and why I think that Ford has completely

00:15underestimated its Chinese competitors. So let's start off with pricing. As expected it is expensive

00:21starts at just under $72,000 for the plug-in hybrid XLT. So entry level goes all the way up to just

00:31under $87,000 for the StormTrack which is the top specification version of the plug-in hybrid.

00:37It ends up being about $5,000 more expensive than the V6 diesel equivalent of these vehicles. Now

00:44look $5,000 is probably not that bad. The problem is though the rest of the competitors. We've already

00:49seen pricing now from GWM for the Canon Alpha at around the $60,000, $63,000 mark and of course

00:55pricing for the BYD Shark at under $60,000. I mean it just shows you that both of those vehicles with

01:02significantly bigger batteries are significantly cheaper than the Ranger and I think you can only

01:07trade on that nameplate for so long. Where it gets even worse though is the specifications and

01:13this kind of blew me away. A little while back we caught up with John Cadogan and we ran through

01:17Shark versus Canon Alpha versus Ford Ranger and we sort of mused that the Ford Ranger would probably

01:24be the best option for those who want all of the punch because it's got the the lightest battery.

01:29It's also got the lightest body presumably and it also has the backup of a 2.3 litre turbocharged

01:35EcoBoost petrol engine. Well that was all under the assumption that Ford was going to run that EcoBoost

01:39engine at its natural output which is over 200 kilowatts of power. I got the specs today and almost fell

01:45off my chair. They've detuned it by almost 100 kilowatts of power so the internal combustion engine

01:52alone will only make 138 kilowatts of power. Now for reference that is marginally more marginally

01:59more than the BYD Shark. Now the BYD Shark when we plugged it up to our trailer dine struggled with

02:05three kilonewtons of load and it has a rated towing capacity of 1,000 kilos less than the Ranger

02:10at 2,500 kilos versus 3,500. So Ford is going to be asking this vehicle to perform the same job as the

02:17Shark when the battery is empty with around the same amount of power except with the capability of towing

02:23another 1,000 kilos extra which is actually insane and to think that this is going to to hit that edge

02:31case of the battery being expired much quicker as well because the Ranger uses an 11.8 kilowatt hour battery.

02:37It's over 20 kilowatt hours less than the Canon and significantly less than the BYD Shark so you're

02:44going to achieve that edge case much quicker when that battery expires. So I think Ford is in a lot

02:49of trouble with these specs and what they've been boasting which is exceptional capability. In fact

02:54I sat down with the boss of Ford's IMG Markets which is basically the international market group it

03:01services all markets outside of the United States and China and I said to her why would anyone buy

03:07a Ranger over the GWM or the BYD Shark and this is before I knew the pricing and she said they

03:14haven't compromised on what a Ranger is and what a Ranger delivers and they've added the functionality

03:19of a plug-in hybrid battery to the existing Ranger and I'm sort of paraphrasing there but that's what

03:24she said. Well to me this seems like a massive compromise because not only have you gutted that

03:28petrol engine to achieve these lofty fuel economy figures you're probably going to end up in the same

03:33scenario as we did with the BYD Shark where when that battery runs out you're going to be left with

03:38a very heavy vehicle that simply cannot keep up with the load that it's towing. Now you might think to

03:44yourself well smaller battery must mean that it's lighter right? Not quite. If you go to the top spec

03:50StormTrack which is comparable to the BYD Shark in terms of specifications we're talking about a maximum

03:57curb weight of 2,705 kilos. BYD Shark is 2710. So you're saving five kilos and I don't know where

04:05this mass has gone because the battery is like less than half the size. I just cannot understand how it's

04:13so heavy with such a small battery and it could just be that they've taken virtually an internal

04:18combustion Ranger and added this electric motor between the engine and the transmission. But if you

04:23jump over to the GWM Canon Alpha it's got the same principles internal combustion engine electric

04:28motor and then an enormous 37 kilowatt hour battery yet this has a curb weight of 2775 which is only

04:35marginally higher than the Ranger. The other thing that blew me away as well and this this sounds like

04:40it's it's a highly critical video but I've just seen so many things here that have just astonished me

04:45if you look at the features list you've got a spare tire as optional on everything but the top spec

04:51since when is a spare tire in a dual cab ute optional? I mean this is insane this is one of

04:58the things that you would think is standard on every dual cab ute and it certainly has been on

05:02every one that I've ever driven and to think here that it is an optional extra to have a spare tire

05:08on your dual cab ute just because it's a plug-in hybrid and you want to achieve these fuel economy

05:13figures is genuinely alarming. All right so let's have a look at more of these specs as a whole so

05:17they've detuned that internal combustion engine so now it makes 138 kilowatts of power and 411

05:24newton meters of torque so remember this used to be 200 and something kilowatts of power so over 200

05:29kilowatts of power and they use this engine in the Volkswagen Amarok it hasn't been used in any other

05:34Ford Ranger products for Australia. Combined output 207 kilowatts and 697 newton meters so that combined

05:42output comes courtesy of a 75 kilowatt e-motor that's sandwiched between that engine and the

05:47transmission and that's what gives you that extra acceleration and that extra burst with a battery

05:52of 11.8 kilowatt hours and that is for a driving range of virtually nothing on electric alone. They

05:58have said that this has different modes that allow you to charge the battery with the engine and allow

06:03you to run it on EV alone etc etc so it's got all that good stuff it's got power out as well so you can

06:09actually run devices outside of the vehicle so all of that looks pretty good but again compare that to

06:14the GWM Canon Alpha and the reason I'm comparing it to the GWM is it has the same rated towing capacity

06:20of three and a half tons because remember this is what Ford said was going to be its point of

06:25difference well in actual fact it's the same over here with the Canon. The Canon on the other hand

06:30180 kilowatts out of its two liter turbocharged engine so ready there you're over 40 kilowatts up which

06:36is going to give you a big difference when it comes to that battery potentially being expired.

06:41They've also got a chunkier electric motor 120 kilowatts so it gives you a system output of 300

06:47kilowatts and 750 newton meters so it is a much bigger package and also a much bigger battery as

06:52well 37.1 kilowatt hours so it is a huge battery and it gives you over 100 kilometers of driving range

06:59when running on EV alone so those figures alone tell a huge story. Now the other one that kind of took me

07:05by surprise as well Ford has increased the GVM of the Ranger plug-in hybrid but if you get your maths

07:13out you've got a payload that's quite reasonable in fact when it's empty and this is talking about

07:18maximum payload on the top spec vehicle 795 kilos so pretty good there compared to 535 kilos of payload

07:25on the GWM so already you're up there when you're not towing but if you decide to tow at the capacity

07:32which is 3500 kilograms and you have a look at the GCM of the Ford Ranger and you do a little bit of

07:38maths GCM is 6580 so if you do 6580 minus the maximum curb weight of 2705 minus a 3500 kilo trailer

07:49talking about 375 kilograms of payload that is not a great deal and that means that once you add a

07:59couple of passengers remember curb weight is exclusive of passengers and accessories once

08:04you add a couple of passengers you're going to be slim on the amount of payload you can have so you

08:08are virtually towing a caravan couple of passengers and one or two items or perhaps a couple of kids

08:13and that is it you're not going to be putting anything in the tray you're not going to be adding

08:17any accessories because you will be over the vehicle's GCM. Compare that to the Canon Alpha it has

08:23a GCM of 6745 minus the vehicle's curb weight of 2775 minus 3500 kilos towing capacity is 470 kilos so

08:34you're up by about 100 kilos over the Ranger and it's much closer than the vehicle's rated towing

08:39capacity when it's empty too so look I know that it sounds like I've berated the Ranger here I haven't

08:45driven it I know nothing what it's like it might be the best vehicle in the world to drive

08:49you know I'm looking forward to driving it as well but these stats alone I mean it just makes me wonder

08:55why anyone would buy this they've released it after the first of April so the subsidies for

09:00novated leases for FBT exemption are gone same thing for the Canon but your asking price is around

09:08$10,000 more than the GWM which is significantly better in every single measure that I can I can sort

09:14of tell here so well outside of the the payload without any towing so yeah it'll be interesting

09:20to see how this goes it just really confuses me why Ford hasn't really done the research here

09:28on what the Chinese were bringing to Australia perhaps they didn't know BYD was bringing the

09:32Shark and GWM was bringing the Canon Alpha plug-in hybrid but I just think it is naivety on their part

09:38perhaps they've been resting on the laurels of Ranger being such a successful model and they thought

09:43well you know this will do the job just nicely well I just don't think it will so anyway looking

09:48forward to driving it and I'm looking forward to sticking our three kilonewton trailer dyne on the

09:53back of it same story with the Canon Alpha because at 138 kilowatts of power this thing is going to

09:58struggle big time so I'll be very keen to see how that goes and whether it does the same thing that

10:03the BYD Shark did where it just collapses in a heap once the battery runs out so anyway let me know

10:09your thoughts in the comments section below do you reckon Ford's muffed up with this do you think

10:14that perhaps it'll be better once you actually drive it like I said I'm keen to have a drive we'll

10:19see how it goes but at this stage I mean it just doesn't doesn't look all that promising if these

10:24numbers are anything to go by let me know if you've been shopping for one of these did you take delivery

10:28of a BYD Shark what does it be like are you waiting for the GWM to come out are you fussed that the

10:33government isn't extending FBT exemptions for plug-in hybrids let me know your thoughts in the

10:39comment section below if you did enjoy this video please make sure you like it and share it with

10:42your mates and if you haven't done so already subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon

10:46but until next time take it easy

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