Ranger Raptor on the way
US carmaker Ford Motor Co has started producing the off-road pickup Ranger Raptor at its Rayong plant, aiming to deliver bookings from August onward.
The move comes after Thai customers have been waiting on delivery since Ford debuted the Ranger Raptor globally in early February.
The Ranger Raptor is produced at the Ford Thailand Manufacturing (FTM) facility, designed as a high-speed performance pickup for Asia-Pacific markets, an extension from its flagship F-150 in the US market.
“Customer interest has been extraordinary and bookings stronger t han expected. We cannot wait to start customer deliveries next month,” said a Ford Asean spokesperson.
Ford has yet to disclose total bookings of the Ranger Raptor, just saying many thousands have been booked by Thai customers. The spokesperson said the production launch for the Ranger Raptor has gone as planned.
“It will take a few weeks to get the vehicles out to Ford’s dealerships nationwide following the start of mass production, and then on to customers,” said the spokesperson.
The Ranger Raptor is expected to be marketed in other Asia-Pacific countries, with the FTM facility in charge of overseas shipments. Ford has yet to announce launch dates for other Asia-Pacific markets.
“But they will certainly not be far off,” said Ford Asean.
The Michigan-based giant runs two plants in Rayong. The first is handled by AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT), a joint venture with Mazda. Ford accounts for half of AAT’s annual production of 270,000 vehicles.
The second plant is run by FTM. That plant has annual passenger car production capacity of 180,000 units, including the Fiesta, Focus and EcoSport.
Ford announced in November 2015 a US$186-million (6.18 billion baht) infusion for FTM to make the Ranger pickup. The move was aimed at meeting demand for the popular model both domestic and overseas markets.
The Ranger is assembled with 25 variant models, which include the XLT, XLS, XL and Raptor, which are built by two plants. The Ranger pickup makes up the majority of Ford’s Thai sales volume, ranked third in the segment after Isuzu and Toyota.
Over the first five months of 2018, Ford achieved a sharp 36.6% rise for the Ranger at 23,018 units sold and gained a 13.4% segment share.
For the Ranger shipment, Ford exported 90,557 Thai-built units to Asia-Pacific countries in 2017. Ford was the third-largest car exporter from Thailand after Toyota and Mitsubishi.