Ford Australia has effectively encouraged next-generation Ranger buyers to shop around in light of high delivery fees being charged by some dealers.
The company has said it neither sets these fees nor recommends a fee amount, which has led its franchise dealers to charge as little as $903 and as much as $5995 – according to buyers on social media.
One prospective owner who contacted CarExpert said they were charged a $1895 delivery fee in December 2020 when they ordered their last Ranger, but their new Ranger order from the same dealership has a $3500 fee attached.
“While dealer delivery fees are set independently by dealers, we are keen to remind customers that we have more than 180 dealers nationwide and they are welcome to work with a dealer of their choice,” said a spokesperson for Ford Australia.
“We also have a new online configurator at ford.com.au, so customers can put in their postcode, configure their vehicle and get an estimated drive-away price, which includes an estimated dealer delivery charge.
“This configurator is currently available for Ranger, and Everest and Raptor will be added within a few weeks.”
When pricing a Ranger on the Ford Australia website, a dealer delivery fee of $2140 is listed regardless of state or territory.
Dealer delivery is a catch-all cost that covers the time and labour involved in cleaning, inspecting, and handing over a car to the customer, given cars aren’t provided to dealers in a customer-ready state.
These charges vary from dealer to dealer and can be set by the dealer to inflate the drive-away price without affecting the recommended retail price set by the manufacturer.
MORE: What are on-road costs?
Ford is advising customers that arrivals of the Ranger and Ranger Raptor have been pushed back a month, to July and August respectively.
“We continue to face global semi-conductor and COVID-related supply chain challenges. A combination of both of these factors means there will be some wait times, but we’re doing what we can to make them as short as possible,” said a spokesperson for Ford Australia.
Although Ford has commenced mass-production and shipping of the new Ranger, a leaked dealer bulletin from late April revealed COVID-19 lockdowns in China will mean dealers have fewer examples to sell than initially forecast.
“Next Gen Ranger Q2 production has been negatively impacted as a result of some major cities in China now being under COVID lockdown,” reads the confidential bulletin, dated April 27, 2022, which was shared on Facebook.
“Unfortunately, a portion of the expected Q2 production volume will need to be re-calendarised [sic], with detailed impact to production expected to available over the next fortnight.
“The production loss from Q2 has delayed the anticipated timing of the April allocation (for July production) as we assess the latest information available and is now expected on Dealer status the morning of Thursday 28th April.
“As a flow on effect of production loss from Q2, a portion of the April Dealer allocation (for July production) will now need to be dedicated to build existing Dealer orders from earlier allocations, decreasing the volume available to allocate to Dealers in April.”
Ford said the Chinese COVID lockdown has affected 91 suppliers and 393 unique parts used on the Ranger.
In April 2022, Ford revealed full pricing for the Ranger line-up. You can read our detailed price and specs article here.
The core range starts at $35,930 before on-road costs for the XL single-cab-chassis in standard high-rider body-style, and extends to $70,190 before on-road costs for the Wildtrak with the meaty V6 turbo-diesel.
The turbo-petrol V6-powered Ranger Raptor is priced from $85,490 before on-road costs.
The 2022 Ford Ranger line-up consists of the XL, XLS, XLT, Sport, Wildtrak and Raptor specification grades, and offers four engine choices all exclusively mated with automatic transmissions.
The headliner diesel is Ford’s 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 that produces 184kW of power and 600Nm of torque. A revised 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel four-cylinder makes 154kW (down 3kW) and a familiar 500Nm, while the base 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder makes 125kW and 403Nm.
The V6 diesel costs $3000 more than the 2.0-litre bi-turbo four-cylinder alternative.
The new-gen Ranger Raptor switches out the bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel for a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol engine that produces 292kW and 583Nm.
Meanwhile, Ford in the US is cracking down on dealer mark-ups, with CEO James Farley warning dealers they could potentially receive fewer models if they engage in tbne behaviour.
Around 10 per cent of dealers in Ford’s US network charged more than the recommended retail price last year according to the company. The remarks follow the filing of a class-action lawsuit last year alleging Ford makes a profit on what are referred to in the US as delivery and destination charges.
MORE: Everything Ford Ranger
