7 ways Ford can improve the Ranger ute: 2026 Ford Ranger ute needs these fixes to fight off BYD Shark 6, Kia Tasman, Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max and Mitsubishi Triton

Today’s Ranger is enjoying a level of success Ford has not experienced since the halcyon days of the Falcon during the 1980s and ‘90s, outselling all others in Australia last year and in 2023.

What makes this achievement even sweeter for the brand is a general consensus that this (anticipated) final-ever Australian designed and engineered mass-production vehicle is also widely regarded as best-in-class, both here and around the world.

The Ranger is now easily the most successful Australian vehicle of all time, helped by being the most broadly-available Ford globally at around 180 markets.

For all its design, comfort, refinement, driveability and available performance on offer, there’s still plenty of room for improvement come facelift time.

Changes are already on their way for model-year 2026 ahead of a substantial restyle a little later on, from the highly-anticipated plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and Super Duty 4500-tonne workhorse versions, to speculated specification and equipment upgrades across the whole range.

Along with diverting attention away from the eagerly-awaited Kia Tasman, the latter is thought to be in preparation for the restyled (or heavily facelifted, who actually knows exactly?) Toyota HiLux that’s also not too far away.

With Ford already upstaged by the game-changing BYD Shark 6 PHEV and GWM Cannon hybrid and PHEV dual-cab ute alternatives out of China, it cannot afford to get the Ranger wrong next time around.

Let’s outline the small but important changes Australia’s favourite needs.

1 Replace halogen headlights on lower grades with LEDs

From day one, the existing Ranger has been criticised for persisting with old-fashioned and less-effective halogen headlights in the workhorse XL, fleet-favourite XLS and XLT PHEV.

Do Ford’s penurious purse-string pullers forget Australia is a vast country and the best-possible vision should be a priority in a vehicle that also serves as a mobile office? Do they not see the light? LEDs should be an OH&S directive in 2025.

We’re also hearing that the XLT (and up) diesels deserve better bi-LED headlights, while the Matrix LEDs on Platinum and Raptor (and optional on Wildtrak) could be improved as well.

2 Gas struts for the bonnet

Now, if you’re an owner of an earlier (PX series) Ranger, you might wonder what we mean.

But mean is the word, since Ford ditched the old gas struts holding up the PY’s hefty bonnet for a jangly rod, presumably to save a few cents on each unit. Surplus Zephyr and Consul old stock perhaps?

It’s an obvious and shocking penny-pinching strategy that undermines the current Ranger’s boundary-pushing engineering and safety. Please restore.

3 Extendable sunvisors

Volkswagen sent a small team to Melbourne during the current Ranger’s gestation to effectively Deutsch-ify the Ford-based Amarok II inside and out.

One of the latter’s more-minor yet desirable differences are its extendable sunvisors ­– an endlessly useful convenience feature that future Ranger buyers would thank the Blue Oval for during every sunny dawn or dusk drive.

4 Four one-touch express down/up power windows

The ageing HiLux has them. And, more pointedly, so does Amarok. So why can’t all Ranger dual-cab bodies also score one-touch automatic power window switches all-round? Imagine being a Ford owner and not cursing the corporate accountants every day for purposely denying you the small mercy of not overexerting an index finger?

5 Ventilated seats

Once you get blown cold air on your hot back and buttocks, you never go back, as people in the know say.

Australia, of course, is a hot-weather country, so why does our most homegrown model come with heated but not ventilated seats across the range? It’s only available on the Platinum luxury flagship – a model that’s out of reach for many buyers. At the very least offer the option across the range.

6 Better wet-weather tyres on Raptor

This one’s self-explanatory. The Raptor offers incredible off- as well as on-road bandwidth, and part of that Baja 4x4-rally appeal are the 285/70R17 BF Goodrich KO2 High Performance All Terrain tyres fitted as standard.

But some Raptor owners believe that their wet-road on-road grip leaves a little to be desired, as they are too limited given the performance on offer. We understand that a change is on the way soon.

7 Sliding rear window

One of the coolest things about driving a ute is having the breeze breathe across the nape of your neck. Several models have this, courtesy of a sliding rear window, including the Nissan Navara.

And so does the Ranger, but not in Australia yet. It’s been available in XLT-spec and up in North America for some time now, but for some reason – cost perhaps, or complexity? – our largely-Thai sourced Fords miss out.