The all-new, 2019 Ford Ranger arrives at a crucial time in the North American market, as sales of trucks and utility vehicles represent an ever-growing share of new vehicle sales, and General Motors goes unchallenged by its American rivals in the domestic midsize truck segment. But the new truck won’t just cater to regular, everyday customers; as it turns out, Ford has commercial customers in its sights with the all-new Ranger, too, with apparent plans to introduce a chassis cab configuration with no cargo bed.
The proof is in the latest North American Ford Ranger spy photos, available over at Autoblog, which show a Ranger XL Chassis Cab in left-hand-drive configuration. The truck even wears a Monroney sticker in the window, suggesting that it’s a production example, although sadly, the truck was photographed from too far away for any of the sticker’s contents to be legible.
Chassis cab models like this 2019 Ford Ranger are produced primarily for commercial use, the bare frame behind the cabin giving upfitters the opportunity to mount whatever equipment or cargo solution they see fit. Ford doesn’t currently offer a chassis cab version of the popular F-150 half-ton, although certain versions of the F-Series Super Duty can be purchased in that configuration. Offering its new light-duty midsize truck in that body style could help the automaker reach a new sort of commercial vehicle buyer in the North American market: the sort with unique upfitting requirements, who either doesn’t need the size and grunt of a full-size, heavy-duty truck, or who wants greater fleet efficiency.
The Ford Ranger XL Chassis Cab will most likely pack the same 2.3L EcoBoost petrol engine and ten-speed automatic as the rest of the Ranger lineup, although a punchy little EcoBlue diesel – perhaps like the one in the forthcoming Ranger Raptor – could be offered as well. In other markets, the Ranger Raptor’s 2.0L bi-turbo diesel engine produces as much as 210 horsepower and 370 lb-ft, and recent sightings of the truck in LHD configuration on US soil suggest Ford could deploy the same engine in the North American market.
Visit Autoblog.com to see the 2019 Ford Ranger XL Chassis Cab for yourself.
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