Ever dreamt of a short-wheelbase (SWB) utility car kitted out with a coil rear finish and four-wheel disc brakes?
It’d shock you to listen to that it does exist however the motive why it exists will shock you much more! To seek out out the total story, we just lately travelled to Bangkok, Thailand however extra particularly, a bit of additional south east and near Rayong the place the Ford Ranger is primarily produced.
Thailand is the ute capital of the world. Many common utes just like the Isuzu D-Max, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton are all made there alongside the Ford Ranger.
It’s no surprise we Aussies are so focussed on utes, given the wealthy historical past of the physique fashion right here.
It was again in 1932 when an Australian farmer wrote to Ford requesting a dual-purpose car that might take her and her husband to church on Sunday and transport her pigs on a Monday. It took Ford two years to provide an answer. The Coupe Utility was designed by Lew Bandt and Henry Ford aptly nicknamed it the Kangaroo Chaser!
The demise of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore utes noticed the additional rise of dual-cab utes right here, which has seen such demand that the 2 hottest automobiles (vehicles and SUVs included) bought inside Australia are in actual fact the Toyota HiLux and the Ford Ranger.
However not everybody needs a ute, and as such producers have developed a variety of ute-based SUV variants such because the Toyota Fortuner (primarily based on the HiLux), the Isuzu MU-X (primarily based on the D-Max) and the Ford Everest (primarily based on the Ranger).
The latter although, does convey us again to what this text is about and provides us a serious clue to the existence of a SWB Ranger ute with an Everest third member (coiled and disc braked rear differential meeting).
So why is Thailand the ‘ute capital’ of the world? In 2005 the door was opened when Australia signed a free-trade settlement with Thailand. Workforce that with low wages and manufacturing prices, appreciable native experience in car manufacturing, close by appropriate deep-water ports and economical and environment friendly transport routes, and it’s no surprise.
Thailand can also be the right centralised location for transport items not solely throughout Asia and Europe but additionally to the US, so it’s a no brainer that many automobile producers have arrange manufacturing there.
Ford specifically has invested closely into the native economic system with properly over 6000 workers in Thailand, unfold throughout two factories. The corporate builds round half 1,000,000 automobiles there per yr and ships them to 130-odd nations. Clearly this all makes for a lot extra worthwhile manufacturing.
Extraordinarily astute native union members be certain that Thai workers are paid (and fed) properly but when there’s a method to minimize prices much more you will be assured that extremely skilled car producers, like Ford, will discover methods to do it, and that my pals is precisely why the SWB single-cab Ford Ranger does exist!
With native markets and manufacturing so entrenched and focussed on utility automobiles, there are particular authorities levy reliefs and concessions utilized to utility car manufacturing in Thailand, however these reductions don’t get utilized to your typical SUVs.
As such, the Ford Everest needs to be hit with additional fees, but in an excellent stroke by Ford, it escapes them!
What Ford is ready to do, in a weird twist, is classify the Everest as a utility! It does this by producing a brief run of automobiles that comprise an Everest chassis, engine and working gear, topped with a Ford Ranger single cab physique, thus making the Ford Everest only a wagon physique on a full utility chassis and working gear.
The result’s a tremendous SWB ute armed within the rear with a Watts hyperlink, coil suspension and strong differential, stopped by disc brakes. By basing the Everest off that utility platform, Ford avoids the upper tariffs related to ‘non-ute’ car manufacturing. Sounds loopy, however it’s true.
The instance pictured right here was noticed at VVP4X4, a tremendous 4×4 equipment store positioned south east of Bangkok and owned by the massively well-liked and well-connected Mr Veerasak. He knowledgeable us the SWB single-cab Rangers sometimes bought for round 1,000,000 Baht (A$42,814) lower than the Ford Everest, making them very reasonably priced.
Solely a really restricted quantity are made for every new model of the Everest although, sometimes the minimal required to fulfill the concessions.
Whereas they aren’t so wanted in Thailand, they might show common in Australia, being extra agile and cozy. There’s undoubtedly an enchantment there, as they give the impression of being nice and never everybody needs a dual-cab pickup with rougher-riding rear leaf suspension.
Sadly, there isn’t a plan to export them and as talked about above, the one motive they exist is to keep away from the upper manufacturing levies in Thailand. There are Subsequent Gen fashions round too however how wonderful would one among these be as a Raptor?
So what do you assume, would a SWB ute like this be practical in Australia? We predict it will be and we’re eager to listen to what you need to say within the feedback beneath.
MORE: The whole lot Ford Ranger
