Ranger’s clean quandry

The new Ranger is here. But how will Ford balance huge sales with Clean Car obligations?

New Zealand Ford Ranger customers have spoken with their chequebooks about the Clean Car Discount/fees: they don’t care.

At launch last week Ford NZ held 5055 orders for the nextgeneration ute, 50 per cent of them powerful new V6 models: the turbo-diesel Sport and twinturbo petrol Raptor, which attract Clean Car Discount fines of $3910 right up to the maximum $5175.

So buyers are okay with Government fines. But is Ford NZ, given it will have to start paying Clean Car Standard fees from January 2023, if it can’t meet average CO2 targets that become progressively tougher each year?

Clean Car Discount fines, remember, are aimed at vehicle buyers. They are paid based on the CO2 output of individual cars.

The Clean Car Standard, coming into effect from January 2023, is different/additional and aimed at vehicle distributors. If they can’t meet average CO2 targets across the vehicles they sell, they have to pay big fines. Ford NZ managing director Simon Rutherford says the company is serious about achieving Clean Car compliance (it’s a global Ford directive), but also that Ranger will remain a “core” product in NZ because its emissions will be offset by other Ford models to come.

“We’re confident; we’ve got a plan,” says Rutherford. “We’re confident because we’ve done the homework out to 2031.

Rutherford argues Ranger could still comfortably make up 60 per cent of Ford NZ volume under Clean Car Standard targets thanks to the likes of the Puma and Focus mild hybrids, and an Escape hybrid joining the PHEV model this year (the petrol-only Escape will be dropped).

From 2023 we’ll also see zeroemissions models like Mach-E and the e-Transit, in both Custom and full-size models, which will help bring Ford NZ CO2 averages down.

The new Ranger has been launched in XL, XLT, Sport and Wildtrak variants, at prices from $46,990 to $80,490. A single-turbo diesel is standard on most workhorse 4x2 variants, but the

2.0-litre BiT is now the core powerplant for 4x4 models. A new V6 turbo diesel is available in both the new Sport specification and the Wildtrack (which also retains a BiT option).

The halo Raptor model, with a

3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6, will be launched later in the year at $89,990.