Ford NZ says harsher incoming Clean Car penalties won’t kick popular powerplants from play.

THOSE six guns will keep firing.

This assertion from Ford New Zealand comes a day after Government’s second go at sorting legislation designed to boot high emissions culprits from the national roadscape. 

The six-cylinder engines that drive significant interest in the current Ford Ranger, and its Everest sports utility offshoot, are among those blackhearts – but they’re also core to why the ute is also cleaning up in the market.

Ford NZ said today the 3.0-litre V6s will remain despite the punishing new penalties – which elevate the pack leader Raptor (above) to being almost a $100,000 choice.

Ongoing local distributor commitment to the turbodiesel that goes into the high-end Sport, Wildtrak and Platinum and a twin turbo petrol for Raptor comes with expectation they could lose some sales pace, however.

Ford New Zealand’s Tom Clancy says there’s possibility a greater number of doublecab Ranger buyers might prefer the type’s sole alternate powerplant, the base 2.0-litre turbodiesel, after the amended Clean Car Discount hits on July 1.

The only powerplant to transfer from the previous model that retired a year ago still has sales grunt. It’s the only choice in the Ranger Kiwis love most, the XLT doublecab.  

That four-cylinder is also set to feel more Clean Car heat. The incoming penalty of up to $5232 is double the impost it presently hefts. But the V6s are hit even harder.

Editions that range from $77,490 and top out at $84,490 will be lumped with a $6555 fee, meaning the most expensive of those will require $91,045 outlay.

Raptor’s new maximum fee, of $6900, from $5175 previously, effectively makes it a $99,890 spend.

Those are not necessarily absolute ceilings. Another clean air impost hanging over the industry is the Clean Car Standard.

The difference between it and the Clean Car Discount is that the Standard is designed to encourage the industry to bring cleaner cars into the country, while the Discount aims to encourage people to buy them.

The Standard uses a complex calculation of weights and targets to reward low emissions product and penalise dirty ones up to $4500 plus goods and services tax, only avoided if a distributor can offset with carbon credit-earning clean fare.

Some distributors without those have said they will pass this cost onto consumers.

Clancy says whether than happens for Ford has yet to be determined.

He points out that so far this year it has stayed on the positive side of the ledger and there’s confidence its plug-in hybrids and the electric Mach-E, launching next month, will perform well enough to keep it there for the rest of the year.

The effect of yesterday’s regulations has been determined by the new car industry as being the equivalent of a $2100 price increase across their sector.

Ford’s spokesman today questioned the motivation, wondering if it was a “revenue-gathering move” by Government. Comment that the commercial sector was “doing all the heavy lifting for this scheme” might seem a touch disingenuous, given the proliferation of high-end Rangers in circulation.

Ranger’s consistent status as the country’s top-selling new vehicle, a position it comfortably kept last month, is both a blessing and a blight when legislators have made it their business to target utes, which account for 24 percent of annual new vehicle sales. 

The vehicles stand tall in legislators’ sights for good reason: None have emissions outputs remotely close to the old penalty point, certainly not the impending new one.

With an output of 292 grams per kilometre (you will also see 262g/km claimed, but that’s on the old NEDC scale, not the WLTP that counts now), Raptor is not only the highest CO2 Ranger by comfortable margin, but also the highest count one-tonne ute.

The V6 diesel outputs 262g/km WLTP, the general issue 2.0-litre puts out 218g/km, though a version in the Wildtrak X that is engineered to meet Euro 6 compliance drops this to 209g/km. That model is limited to just 300 units.  

High emissions – and the worst fuel economy ever for a Ranger – are the price Raptor pays for being the most powerful offer ever in the one-tonne class. The minuses haven’t kept it from being keenly sought-after, Clancy says. He won’t confirm dealer level talk of 14 month delivery times, but acknowledges “there’s a long wait for Raptor.” 

Will Clean Car Mk 2 hurt it? “It’s a highly special vehicle for enthusiasts so we don’t see this (new penalty) having much of an impact.”

The reason no more than 200 have so far found homes here comes down to supply. Demand is high. 

“Raptor year to date has made up approximately five percent of all Ranger sales but by year end it will be even lower, around three percent. We only have so many allocated for the year.”

So far buyers don’t seem to be dissuaded by Clen Car; but will that be the case in two months? Clancy says it’s still to be seen.

“People still need utes all over New Zealand. We have a number of Rangers that we’ve loaned to help out with the recovery efforts in and around Hastings for example.

“There are not many, if any, EV options to help with a massive job like that. And across farms, job sites and for all sorts of towing jobs, a ute is still the best option. Maybe the rushed changes weren’t about a tipping point but rather a revenue gathering move.”