Ford removes European Ranger’s bed out of professional courtesy

With Ford set to unveil the spiritual successor to the Bantam, the Maverick, next year, it has introduced a chassis cab version of the Ranger that will go on sale in Europe from the first quarter of next year.

Based on the single cab XL, the chassis cab, as its name indicates, comes without a loadbed and instead offers a range of unique bodies extending from a cherry picker to a rescue vehicle fitted at 160 approved converters across 13 Old Continent markets.

The removal of the bed has resulted in the freeing-up of 2 518 mm of space with the gross vehicle mass rated at 3 270 kg. Only offered on four-wheel-drive derivatives, the claimed wading depth remains unchanged at 800 mm, the ground clearance at 237 mm and the towing capacity at 3 500 kg for a braked trailer.

Up front, the single-turbo 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine, which carries the EcoBlue moniker, produces 125kW/420Nm and apart from the all-paw gripping system, is only equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox plus the low range transfer case.  An electronically locking rear differential can be specified as an option.

While still to be priced, the chassis cab is currently restricted to Europe and therefore a South African market no-no for now.

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