At the Thailand Motor Expo this week, Ford's rolling out a show truck based on the locally-produced Ford Ranger. Dubbed the Ranger Max, it's a styling exercise designed to infuse the compact pickup with some visual muscle and toughness. According to Ford, power tools were among the inspirations for the project, hence the blend of matte accents and this OSHA-friendly orange paint job. Anyway, it's pretty cool, what with the embossed "RANGER" logos on the grille and tailgate; vented, domed hood; chunky wheel/tire package; flared fenders and integrated step rails. If Ford were to (finally) replace the U.S.-market Ranger with something incorporating the main cues from this (especially the overall grille/front-end treatment), you wouldn't hear a peep of complaint from us -- we'd be too busy listening to "One Night in Bangkok" on the stereo while we cruised down that street from the Ford Flex ads.
At the same time Ford is unveiling a US plan for profitability packed with cars that we don't want, it’s showing off simple, practical, affordable, utilitarian vehicles elsewhere in the world like this Ford Ranger Max concept.
The concept was just unveiled at the Thailand International Motor Expo and features styling inspired by chunky power tools and the kind of practicality that can only come from a reasonable size and frugal engine. But, this isn’t just a reskinned Mazda B-series, this vehicle is said to hint at what the next generation Ranger could look like.