Look at Ford’s sales results in the region and it’s clear that the American carmaker isn’t having a great time of it right now. Not only has the price of diesel wrecked sales of its Ranger pick-up truck and Everest SUV, but rising development costs mean it has unwittingly priced itself out of its target market of traders and would-be lifestyle buyers.
Perhaps emboldened by its plan to bring the Bronco Basecamp to global markets, the Blue Oval has now confirmed a more affordable pick-up that will slot below the Ranger, similar to how the unibody Maverick slots below the F-150 in the US. Unlike that car, this unnamed model will likely retain the use of a ladder frame to maintain its appeal as a work truck.
Ford CEO Jim Farley is adamant that the new model will be significantly less expensive than the Ranger when it debuts next year. “We expect the base material cost for this truck to be 20% lower than today’s Ranger,” he said during its Q3 2026 earnings call. “Just as Maverick has done in the US, this truck is designed to bring new customers into the Ford truck lineup internationally at a cost structure that allows us to compete, in this case, with the Chinese.”
Ford aims to replicate the success of the US-only Maverick worldwide
As Australia’s CarExpert points out, that last comment could be a hint that Dearborn is leveraging its joint venture with JMC to built its new pick-up, just as it did for the Bronco Basecamp and the Transit City van.
Headquartered in Jiangxi, the Chinese firm has several mid-size pick-ups that would be ideal to be used as a base, including the Baodian, Yuhu and the Vigus Pro, the latter already being sold in Malaysia. Those trucks use some Ford know-how and have even reportedly utilised versions of Ford engines at various points.
A cheaper Ford pick-up would therefore allow the company to ward off the influx of cheaper Chinese trucks in markets like Southeast Asia and Australia. It would even enable it to bring an electric truck to market, something it hasn’t done with the Ranger but rivals like Toyota with the Hilux and Isuzu with the D-Max have.
Ford partner JMC already sells the Vigus Pro here
Ford wouldn’t be alone in using Chinese tech for its own pick-ups for global markets. Nissan also tapped Dongfeng’s expertise in electrified trucks for its plug-in hybrid Navara Pro, while Stellantis has rebadged the Changan F70 as several models, including the Peugeot Landtrek.
But Ford could also go its own way with an in-house-developed model, given that Farley also boasted about the company “accelerating our industrial system, including very aggressive next generation vehicle cost reduction targets” in that same earnings call. As it happens, Toyota also built its own low-cost model, the Hilux Champ, using the regular Hilux platform but with less costly exterior pressings, interior components and features.
Would a cheaper Ford truck make sense for the Malaysian market? It remains to be seen – the lifestyle truck market that it used to make hay with has been decimated by high diesel prices, and while subsidies have been reinstated, buyers have been slow to return. Meanwhile, the commercial market is rather niche and is already well-served by the all-conquering Hilux. Still, would you like to see a sub-Ranger model here? Let us know in the comments.