Ford Ranger is 2025 North American Truck of the Year

The Ford Ranger is the 2025 North American Truck of the Year, one of the three winners of the annual North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards. It’s the fifth year in a row that a Ford truck has won the title.

Truly global product
The Ranger is one of the few Ford models that is a truly global product, developed and sold in numerous markets. This wasn’t the case before 2011 when there was one Ranger sold in North/South America but a different one sold elsewhere which was jointly developed by Ford and Mazda (until 2021).

Made in three factories
Internally designated T6, the current Ranger is made primarily in factories in the USA, Thailand and South Africa, with a lot of development work done at Ford’s Australian R&D facilities (besides support from other facilities around the world). The version for North America has additional development to tailor it for the market requirements.

The current generation is also adapted by Volkswagen for its current Amarok and built at Ford’s plant in South Africa.

Different markets get different drivetrains and the Ranger for the US market which was the award-winner has EcoBoost engines with displacements of 2.3 litres, 2.7 litres and 3.0 litres. Other markets also have 2.0-litre engines and there are also diesel powerplants. Manual and automatic transmissions are available with the automatics having 10 speeds.

The most powerful Ranger
The Ranger range includes the Ranger Raptor which is the most powerful version and was developed by Ford Performance. Drawing on Ford’s experience in the Baja desert races, the Ranger Raptor comes with long travel suspension, a Watts link rear suspension and class-exclusive 2.5-inch FOX Live Valve shock absorbers.

“Earning this recognition celebrates our team’s dedication to continuously raising the bar for midsize truck customers,” said Jim Baumbick, Vice-President, Advanced Product Development, Cycle Plan, and Programs. “We rigorously tested Ranger in challenging environments around the world to deliver the Built Ford Tough durability our customers demand. This award is a tribute to our customers who inspire us every day.”

Click here to know more about the Ford Ranger range in Malaysia.