Ford Ranger MS-RT Debuts in EU As The Sportiest Ranger Ever

The new Ford Ranger MS-RT debuts in Europe as a sporty, street-style pick-up truck with a widebody kit.

Putting aside the manic Raptor versions, the second-gen Ford Ranger T6 already gets a full range of variants, ranging from the rugged Wildtrak to the posh, daily-drivable Platinum. Folks in Europe, however, won’t settle for now as they have launched a new variant of the Blue Oval’s midsize pick-up truck, known as the Ranger MS-RT.

Touted as “the ultimate street truck,” the Ranger MS-RT is easily the sportiest, street-biased variant in the whole Ranger lineup. Key design highlights include an aggressive widebody kit that makes the truck 164 MM wider, a cleaner and sportier front face featuring a dark-hued honeycomb grille and gloss black accent, and a pair of ducktail spoilers—one at the cab top and one for the tailgate.

Beyond its cosmetic appeal, Ford claims that both the tailgate and cab spoilers actually bring some extra aerodynamic performance to this sporty pick-up truck. Adding more sportiness are the massive 21-inch wheels it rides on, all shod in street-biased Continental ContiSportContact tyres.

The Ranger MS RT's muscular widebody kit is complemented with a tweaked chassis setup with lowered and stiffer suspensions, all promising to deliver better drive dynamics to this pick-up truck

Besides its muscular body kit, the new Ranger MS-RT also benefits from a revised chassis setup, with its tracks being widened by 40 MM on each side while the suspension is lowered by 40 MM. Said suspension setup also features stiffer dampers at the front to give the Ranger MS-RT “greater handling precision and stability through corners.”

As expected, the Ranger MS-RT's cabin is no short of modern cabin amenities and safety features

The sporty appeal continues as we get inside the Ranger MS-RT, with the cabin’s highlight being the heavily bolstered sport seats at the front. Both seats are wrapped in eco-leather and suede with contrasting blue stitches, with a special MS-RT emblem placed on them. Other cabin creature comforts are also present here, including a leather-wrapped steering wheel, the standard 12-inch central infotainment display, dual-zone climate control, and a full-swing of ADAS functions.

Instead of a 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel mill used on other low-spec Ranger variants, the Ranger MS-RT gets a peppier V6 turbodiesel unit

Hiding beneath the Ranger MS-RT hood is a familiar 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6 mill used on both the EU-spec Wildtrak and Platinum variants. Still outputting 237 HP and 600 NM, said V6 mill is mated to a 10-speed automatic gearbox that helps deliver power to all four wheels (AWD). Similarly, cargo and towing capacities for this sporty Ranger remain unchanged at 1,000 KG and 3,500 KG, respectively.

For those who are not familiar with MS-RT, this sporty trim level is an off-shoot of Ford’s long-time rally technical partner, M-Sport. All MS-RT-badged Ford models are designed not only to bring motorsport-inspired looks but also enhanced driving dynamics without sacrificing any practicality aspect of the car.

While the new Ford Ranger MS-RT is touted as a European-exclusive model, we certainly hope that this sporty pick-up truck will make its way into the Malaysian market any time in the future...

The all-new Ford Ranger MS-RT is set to be manufactured at a new production facility within the compound of Ford’s historic Dagenham Estate in the UK. With order books already opened in both the UK and other selected European markets, first deliveries of this street-biased pick-up truck are expected to commence in mid-2024.

For now, the sporty Ford Ranger MS-RT will become a European-exclusive model, with no mention of plans to export it to other international markets. Given the fact that the recently-debuted Ranger Platinum also started off as an EU-exclusive, the chance of seeing this sporty Ranger being introduced into our market is quite likely.