Public to put Ford Ranger through paces

FORD has continued its unorthodox teaser campaign for the locally-developed, Thai-built Ranger ute, organising an online competition to allow creative customers around the globe to test the vehicle in real-life conditions of their choosing.

The Global Ford Ranger Challenge - which will kick off in Australia – is asking people from selected Ranger markets to describe what they consider to be the ultimate challenge for the soon-to-be-released ute.

The contest can be entered by submitting a synopsis of a challenging scenario in 1000 characters or less, accompanied by an optional accompanying image or short film clip, to fordrangerchallenge.com.au.

A judging panel will decide on five winners from each market – including Australia, Thailand, South Africa and parts of Europe and South America – and turn them loose in a Ranger for 10 days for their nominated challenge.

Ford says the winners will be selected on the nature of the challenge, as well as the quality and creativity of the entry.

A professional crew will assist each winner to make a two-minute video of their adventure to be uploaded to the competition website, and the video that gets the most public votes will be judged the winner.

One winner from each participating country will be given the keys to a Ranger to keep, with the winner of Australian competition to be announced in October.

Ford Australia’s vice president for marketing, sales and service, Beth Donovan said: "We want to show exactly what the new Ranger can do so we're putting it in the hands of customers around the world to push it to its limits.”Ford has made extensive use of YouTube to market its new ute range, posting videos of the Ranger in testing and stunts on its dedicated channel, including footage of an early-build vehicle pulling an old steam locomotive out of its shed in Victoria in January.

Earlier in May, Ford revealed that the Ranger – which will be released in Australia in the third quarter of this year – will be offered with a high-tech Bluetooth Voice Control system which will allow drivers to operate their mobile phone and the car’s audio, satellite-navigation and climate-control systems using only voice commands.

Like its all-new Mazda BT-50 mechanical twin that will be launched around the same time, the new Ranger will again be available in dual-cab, single-cab and super-cab configurations with two- and four-wheel drive.

The Ranger’s engine line-up will include two turbo-diesels in 147kW/470Nm 3.2-litre five-cylinder or 110kW/375Nm 2.2-litre four-cylinder guise, as well as a 122kW/226Nm 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol.