2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty Is Ready for Hard Work, Just Not in the U.S.

Ford Australia has revealed the new Ranger Super Duty that can tow more and take more punishment than the regular mid-size Ranger.By Joe KucinskiPublished: Apr 7, 2025Save Article

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• The 2026 Ford Ranger Super Duty has been revealed for the Australian market, but it won’t be sold in the United States.
• The Ranger Super Duty has a max tow rating of 9921 pounds, considerably more than the regular Ford Ranger’s 7500-pound max.
• Along with a diesel V-6, the mid-sized Super Duty has knobby 33-inch tires, locking diffs, and a fender-mounted air snorkel.

Over the last few decades, the Ford Ranger—one of the best mid-size pickups you can buy—has racked up admirers around the world for its combination of size and capability. Now, Ford is enhancing the nameplate by taking a page from the brand’s full-size pickup lineup and creating the new Ranger Super Duty.

As Ford’s most capable Ranger ever, it packs a reinforced chassis, a turbo-diesel engine, underbody protection, and more. It’s designed to work in some of the world’s toughest terrain. Unfortunately for truck fans, there are no plans to bring it to America.

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The Ranger Super Duty’s natural habitat, in fact, is Down Under, where forestry workers, farmers, emergency service providers, and so forth often modify their vehicles to survive life in the field, according to Ford Australia. So, the automaker decided to build a truck that was already equipped to tackle the harshest conditions right from the factory.

One look at this new truck and it’s clear it’s no regular Ranger; the Super Duty has a rugged stance that even the Ranger Raptor can’t match. Crawl underneath the truck, you’ll find a chassis reinforced with thicker-gauge steel and extra bracing. Larger brakes and eight-stud hubs are also part of the package. Pop the hood, and there’s a turbo-diesel 3.0-liter V-6 with an improved cooling system. No official power figures have been released, but the same engine in a standard Australia-market Ranger makes 247 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque.

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This strength and power combine to give the Ranger Super Duty a maximum tow rating of 9921 pounds, a significant increase over the 7500-pound max tow rating for any new Ford Ranger available in America. Payload capacity and curb weight have not been provided yet, but the Ranger Super Duty does boast a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 9921 pounds and a 17,637-pound gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR); as such, we expect the Ranger Super Duty’s max payload rating will rival the larger F-series trucks. (That overlap between the Ranger Super Duty and the Ford F-150, presumably, has quite a bit to do with the reasoning behind not bringing it to America.)

Ford expects examples of the Ranger Super Duty to live a good portion of their life off the beaten path, so they equipped the truck with plenty of off-road bits. The truck has front and rear locking differentials, dual recovery hooks, and high-strength steel skid plates, all in addition to a higher ride height. Along with standard 33-inch all-terrain tires, there’s a fully sealed snorkel with a built-in water drain in the bottom of the air box.

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In addition to the usual standard Ranger features such as SYNC 4, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the Ranger Super Duty offers some of Ford’s clever truck tech, such as its Smart Hitch and Onboard Scales. There’s also Trail Control that helps maintain a steady speed off-road, and the Bronco’s Trail Turn Assist feature helps navigate tight terrain.

The Ranger Super Duty will be available in three chassis-cab configurations (single cab, extended cab, and crew cab) as well as a traditional crew cab with a cargo bed. Pricing has not been announced at this time, but that’s somewhat of a non-issue for U.S. shoppers since there are no plans to bring it Stateside. That said, we’re sure someone will be importing them under the 25-year rule come 2050.