BLUE-COLLAR BATTLE

A fresh batch of workhorse utes will compete for tradie hearts and minds

The battle for the ute dollar is about to blast into overdrive. A new breed of workhorses is set to re-energise a market segment that already accounts for more than one in five new vehicle sales. Over the next 12 months three of the biggest players in the ute market will be updated or replaced. Spearheading the trio of newcomers is Ford’s all-new Ranger. It will be closely followed by an all-new Volkswagen Amarok and updated Toyota HiLux.

While it promises to lift heavy things and tow a sizeable caravan or boat the Ranger also brings car-like levels of safety and technology, a rarity in the ute market.

“As we push the bandwidth of what a traditional truck is, we have to be able to compete with SUVs,” says Ford Australia chief Andrew Birkic.

The Ranger’s instrument cluster is wholly digital and it is available with intelligent matrix LED headlights, a 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system and a connected app that allows remote activation of lights and ventilation.

Plus there’s a V6 diesel for the first time, delivering class-leading pulling power and a permanent four-wheel drive system.

The Ranger also hides an ace behind its bold American-influenced sheet metal: it was designed and engineered in Australia, making it as Aussie as a modern car gets. So the Ranger has no excuses. The previous model muscled its way from the mid-pack to the pointy end of the sales charts, led by 4WD models that now account for 85 per cent of sales.

By next year the Ranger will have a stablemate of sorts in the new Volkswagen Amarok.

Revealed last week, the second generation of Volkswagen’s popular ute answers many of the outgoing car’s questions surrounding safety and technology. Beneath the bolder sheet metal are several components shared with its Ford rival. But while key underpinnings are common, the design and engineering teams worked in isolation to maximise differentiation.

“Everything you can see, everything that is touchable or feel-able, that’s pure Volkswagen,” says Albert Kirzinger, Head of Design for VW Commercial Vehicles.

While the Volkswagen and the Ford will share some engines – most notably a grunty V6 diesel putting out 184kW and 600Nm – Ford will have bragging rights courtesy of a potent 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine, which is good for 292kW and 583Nm.

Volkswagen will instead have a 2.3-litre, 222kW turbo four borrowed from the Ford Mustang. The pair will share two other powerplants – an entry level 2.0-litre turbo diesel with 125kW and a 2.0-litre twin-turbo four with 154kW and 500Nm. Both utes will throw down the gauntlet to the undisputed king for decades, the Toyota HiLux.

Despite its age it still tops the sales charts with a reputation for durability and reliability.

While it’s dating on paper – there’s no fancy tech on a car with bones dating back to 2015 – the HiLux has solid basics. It also underwent extensive local testing to help the “unbreakable” tagline stick.

The HiLux dominates the cheaper twowheel-drive end of the ute market.

But Toyota has been increasing its presence at the upper end of its line-up, where so much of the ute action has centred over the past decade.

An imminent model update will likely introduce a GR Sport variant.

An updated version of the Rogue that’s been offered since 2018 will get revised suspension that places the wheels further apart, in turn improving its on-road nous as well as off-road performance.

There are also safety updates that help keep HiLux on the shopping list of fleets; the popular SR pick-up, for example, will get blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert, while the SR5 adds to that with a 360-degree camera.

All of which is shaping up to be a big battle to be fought across the suburbs, in the bush and in the outback.