[bsa_pro_ad_space id=14]

Wait, what? It’s barely been a year since the fourth-generation Ranger, that marks the nameplate’s return to the North American market, was shown at the Detroit Auto Show and now we get to see the next one? Apparently, this is actually true, and you are looking at a car that you shouldn’t have seen for at least two more years, the fifth-generation Ranger that will share its platform with the upcoming Amarok, both models destined for the European and African markets.

When manufacturers are preparing to launch a new vehicle, they go about their business in a tried and tested way. They either try to take the test mules out on the road either in more secluded areas where there’s less of a likelihood that someone with a camera, hiding in a bush, might be tracking down their movements or, when city testing or highway testing are on order, they wrap the vehicle in question in as odd a camouflage pattern as possible. The point of the camo is to deter those that try to pick out the new model’s key aesthetic features that differentiate it from the older one or, in case of brand-new standalone models, to make it hard for folks to figure out whether or not that model is bringing with it a new design language or not. Basically, most often, it’s a game of hiding your hand in plain sight.

This time, though, it seems like an Australian automotive outlet got its hands on some leaked images. We know that the T6 generation of the Ranger built for international markets (although it did debut in the U.S. as well in 2018) was conceived by Ford Australia and, most probably, the engineers Down Under are now working on the upcoming international model because the T6 has been around since 2011 although it received a facelift in 2015. Obviously, with the T6 Ranger arriving in the U.S. last year and selling well, don’t expect what you see in these pictures to spot rolling down American roads pretty soon.

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=15]