No 2023 Ranger Raptor shortage, says Ford Australia

Ford Australia says that it isn’t concerned about a shortage of the new 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor when it goes on sale in Australia later this year.

The flagship of the Ford Ranger line-up includes a raft of new tech, revised suspension and four-wheel drive system, shunning diesel power for a more potent twin-turbocharged petrol V6. It also includes a 12.0-inch centre display and a crisp, 12.4-inch full colour digital instrument cluster, features which other brands have removed from vehicles given the challenges facing semi-conductor supply during the pandemic.

“Everything in semi-conductor world is still a challenge, and you’re seeing that played out – not just for us, but for everyone … there’s a lot of people dedicated on working on that solution,” said Ford Performance Program Manager, Justin Capicchiano.

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Despite Ford idling some of its plants in North America, including its Ohio and Kansas Assembly Plants, and operating reduced shifts at Kentucky, Chicago and Dearborn truck plants, Ford Australia says that it’s confident that it will be able get strong supply of the new P703 Ranger Raptor when production begins for the second half of 2022.

A Ford Australia spokesperson told Wheels: “We have a steady of supply of T6 product currently – European and North America vehicles are more challenging – so hopefully we can continue that.”

Aiding Ranger Raptor supply will be the change in manufacturing strategy for the new model, with global sourcing now from a single factory. “South Africa used to make Ranger Raptor for Europe,” Capicchiano said. “We’re now moving that over to Thailand. South Africa needed the capacity to make normal Ranger – so it’s a good problem to have.”

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That doesn’t mean that there won’t be a wait time for Ranger Raptor customers, given the current wait time for new vehicles industry wide has blown out to an average of four months. Additionally, the previous Ranger Raptor saw a wait-list given its popularity upon launch in late 2018, well before the impact of the pandemic and semi-conductor supply issues.

Ford claims to have sold 10,000 Ranger Raptors here since, equating to around one-in-thirteen Rangers sold.

“The current car’s a massively popular car – in Europe Raptor gets almost 15 percent of their volume – it’s huge,” said Capicchiano. “It’s really popular in Australia, and I don’t think we’re going to have a problem selling all the ones we can take, to be honest.”