The new generation of the country’s favourite ute will be the first to launch in the Clean Car era.

THE cheapest is $46,990, the dearest, that new Raptor, $89,990 – and that’s before adding the unavoidable Clean Car penalties, which add between $1438 to $5175 to those recommended retails.

 Ford New Zealand’s announcement of pricing for the Ranger today steers clear of citing when the new line-up will show up, but indicates modest increases for those editions that have had direct equivalents in the outgoing family.

 The brand’s data sharing also includes the CO2 counts, measured by Government’s WLTP3 formula, for the incoming engines and the estimated costs these will bring.

 That every cited output is above the 192 grams per 100km cut-off for a penalty was never in doubt; all utes on sale in NZ are caught up in that.

 However, it shows there’s a price to pay for the prestige six-cylinder powerplants.

 The hardest hit is the twin turbo petrol 3.0-litre V6 going into the Raptor. Its sticker price is $5000 above the old Raptor and now lineball with the money Volkswagen has been charging for a V6 Amarok.

 But there’s more to cop. As predicted, Ford’s 292kW/583Nm flagship sets the high point for CO2 penalty, so really unless a buyer can evade that penalty, he or she will be paying $95,165 for this ride.

 Raptor’s engine pumps out 292 grams of exhaust nasties per kilometre exhaust, Ford suggests. Basically, that’s the same count Chevrolet cites for the 6.2-litre V8 in its Silverado.

 Ford has yet to release economy figures for the line, but the Raptor will be the most expensive to run – the fine print says it demands 98 octane petrol to release its performance optimals.

 The new 184kW/600Nm 3.0-litre biturbo diesel that offers in the $75,490 Sport and $80,490 Wildtrak double cabs is less of a dirty bird: It emits 254g/km, for a $3910 impost over RRP.

 As before, the least expensive Ranger is the rear-drive XL grade single cab ‘chassis cab’ which also represented in the old family.

 It’s $1890 dearer than the outgoing equivalent, but the engine it runs – a single turbo 2.0-litre diesel making 125kW/405Nm – emits more CO2 than the 154kW/500Nm biturbo in dearer rear and four-wheel-drive workhorses, so copes a higher penalty: $2473 against $1840.

 Ford New Zealand is putting on a brave face, offering that the 3.0-litre diesel six emits lower CO2 than the five-cylinder 3.2-litre that was the lead engine in the previous Ranger.

 Local managing director Simon Rutherford also contends 2022 Ranger offers fantastic value for money to customers.

 “The 2022 Next-Gen Ranger is a world-class vehicle, with significant leaps forward in technology, safety and capability across the range,” he said in shared comment.

 “As the country’s best-selling vehicle for more than seven years, the Ford Ranger has set the benchmark in this segment for some time, and we expect the next-generation model to raise that mark yet again; beginning with the surprisingly packed XL model through to the Raptor.”

 This is great news for our customers, as alongside the great steps forward for the vehicle, the pricing of the 2022 line-up ensures that Ranger continues to represent excellent value for money while the more powerful yet cleaner powertrains also take a bit of the sting out of the clean car fees.”

 The Ranger family encompasses four rear-drive units and 11 four-wheel-drives, the biturbo and V6s featuring 10-speed automatics, with no manual option continuing in any version.