The 2023 Ford Ranger is on the way and the mid-size truck segment will be the better for it. Between the updated Toyota Tacoma, the restyled Nissan Frontier and the new Ford Ranger, the segment looks like it’ll be competitive again.
But the upcoming release of the Ranger highlights the lack of an SUV based exactly on that truck in the U.S. That equivalent SUV is the new Ford Everest. I know, the Bronco is based on the Ranger, but given how beloved the Ranger is and the close relation, the Ford Everest deserves a shot here.
The Everest is essentially a Ranger that seats up to seven people. Ford Australia says the new Everest is in the final testing and trial stages and will debut early next year. It’ll share both its platform and drivetrain with the Ranger. That means it’ll likely get the new Ranger’s 3-liter turbodiesel V6, along with options for a handful of smaller diesel and gasoline engines.
Throw in the option for a ten-speed automatic transmission AND a six-speed manual on top of its handsome design and I think Ford has a pretty kick-ass SUV in the works. And it’s not like the Everest wasn’t already pretty kick-ass:
The release of these two stablemates takes me back to when the Ford Ranger and Bronco II were essentially the same. Or, later, the Ranger and Explorer, though that was probably the beginning of the end for cross-segment platforms. Well, in the U.S. at least, because in markets abroad, body-on frame SUVs based on mid-size truck platforms never left.
I don’t know why Ford wouldn’t sell the Everest in the U.S. I get that Ford wants the Bronco and Bronco Sport to succeed, but another body-on-frame SUV like the Everest could do OK here since off-roading is more popular than ever. It could sell in meaningful numbers, especially if people knew that it and the Bronco have a chassis in common.
Why not have a direct competitor to the Toyota 4Runner or the Nissan Pathfinder? I’ll throw in the Honda Passport here, too, for a chuckle. Does Ford worry the Everest would cut into Bronco sales in the U.S.? Given the Bronco’s success, I can’t imagine that’s it. I mean, who’s the Bronco competing with, anyway? The Wrangler alone, or the Wrangler plus every body-on-frame else?
