THE production of Ford’s current-generation Ranger bakkie has drawn to a close at the Silverton Assembly Plant in Tshwane.
The last unit came off the assembly line on 10 November, ending with 873 751 cars produced as final preparations were made for the imminent start of production of the highly anticipated Next-Generation Ranger.
“Our locally assembled Ford Ranger has been a huge success in South Africa and internationally, having completely redefined the pick-up segment when it was launched in 2011 and it continued to set benchmarks over the ensuing 11 years,” said Ockert Berry, vice president of operations at Ford South Africa.
“The Ranger not only placed SA on the map as a global production and export hub, but also played an important role in expanding the domestic automotive manufacturing sector,” said Berry.
Local production of the current Ranger was the result of an initial 2009 investment of R3,4 billion in Ford’s Silverton Assembly and Struandale Engine Plant in Gqeberha to supply the domestic market and more than 100 global markets.
By 2018, the total investment in SA for the Ranger programme had increased to R11 billion.
This facilitated extensive upgrades, the implementation of new technologies and capacity of the Silverton plant being expanded in 2016 and again two years later to serve demand.
Ford ensured that the Ranger remained fresh and popular throughout its lifespan, thanks to continuous improvements, comprehensive updates, innovative features and latest-generation 2.0L single turbo and Bi-turbo engines paired with Ford’s advanced 10-speed automatic gearbox.
There was also great excitement in 2019 as the Silverton plant started production of the ground-breaking first Ranger Raptor.
As the only high-performance off-road pick-up in its segment, it remains in a class of its own even as production of the current model ends.
The outgoing Ranger earned many awards over the years, including the International Pick-up Award in 2013 and 2020 from the International Van of the Year jury.
It also won Car magazine’s Top 12 Best Buys in the popular double-cab segment for an unprecedented 11 consecutive years every year of production.
All of this ensured that the Ranger rapidly became and remained one of SA’s most popular vehicles, with more than 271 000 of the outgoing model sold in the country, contributing to the significant growth of the double-cab pick-up segment.
“This brings Ford’s total investment in South Africa to more than R27 billion over the past 13 years, which signifies our unequivocal commitment to the country and dedication to providing must-have products for our customers around the world,” Berry added.
