The Sun Never Sets On Ranger
Your roadside saviour could be Superman John in the UK, La Súper Mujer in Spain, or even Batman in Italy.
We heard so much anecdotal evidence that pickup drivers are superheroes that we commissioned an independent survey 1 to see if it was true.
According to our research no fewer than 95 per cent of European pickup owners would assist someone they know in need.
And they back up words with actions – nearly half of pickup owners (48 per cent) have performed an off-road recovery for a car owner.
It’s little surprise that 22 per cent of pickup drivers have earned nicknames from grateful local communities – from the prosaic (Bob Pickup) to the descriptive (Rescue Rick) to the superhuman mentioned above.
It seems that pickup owners can’t help but help, whether performing an off-road recovery, carrying bulky items or, in one case in France, taking a wild boar to the vet.
Europe’s best-selling pickup for 10 consecutive years is our Ford Ranger – with a commanding 43.6 per cent market share in 2024. 2 We know that Ford owners are nice people, but our community heroes now have another string to their bow with the introduction of the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Ranger, designed to deliver the capability owners want with the efficiency and EV-only driving capability of a PHEV. 3
Want to tow a broken-down car being pushed by a man in a clown outfit? (Yes, this happened, in the UK during a parade). Ranger PHEV has the same up to 3.5-tonne towing capability of other Rangers. The combination of 2.3-litre EcoBoost petrol engine and 75 kW electric motor delivers 697 Nm of torque, more than any previous production Ranger – ideal for smooth and easy acceleration even pulling a heavy load.
Need to pick up the pieces – literally – when wardrobe falls out of a car boot, and take it to its new home (as happened in France)? Ranger PHEV can carry the same payload as other Rangers – up to 1-tonne capacity, which is a lot of wardrobes.
Want to channel your inner cowboy and round up a wandering cow (as occurred in Italy)? The Ranger PHEV has all the off-road prowess expected of such an iconic pickup name.
We heard from 500 pickup drivers and 500 car drivers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. They showed just how useful a Ranger PHEV can be in the local community – 49 per cent of car drivers have been helped by a pickup owner at some point, the main reason (72 per cent) being to transport large items such as furniture.
Friends and family mean a lot to pickup drivers, 64 per cent of whom help at least three times a year. It is no small sacrifice of their time – the majority of pickup drivers (58 per cent) spend at least two hours a month helping people. That’s the equivalent of a full 24-hour day, per year, though even pickup drivers need to sleep.
“Ninety-five per cent of European pickup owners would assist someone they know in need.”Charlie Bristow, vehicles topic producer for Ford in Europe
Whether by family, friends or a stranger, everyone likes to be thanked for their efforts. A verbal thank you is most often received in the UK (75 per cent of pickup drivers have experienced this).
In Germany the act of gratitude is just as likely to come in sweets or chocolate as it is verbally (62 per cent in both cases), but Spain is the place to be if you’re a true food lover – 60 per cent of helpers have been thanked with a meal.
Of course, the “thank you” meal could be cooked on a stove powered by the Ranger PHEV’s optional 2.3 kW or 6.9 kW Pro Power Onboard system. The owner will be only too happy to help.
Meet Ford Ranger owner and community hero Ben Glenister, 35, from Farnham, UK
I’m a Ranger-owner and yes, I’m definitely community-minded. I’m a cub scout leader, I help out all the neighbours. I get called when there’s something wrong with the sink or the toilet’s not working. I just like helping people – I’m that guy, basically.
I didn’t buy Wilma the Wildtrak, as we’ve renamed her, so I could help people. I loved the idea of being able to drive some of the green lanes nearby. I just wanted a vehicle that could do it all – we were constantly having problems with needing to tow, or having to borrow someone’s car, having to switch a towbar between vehicles, or not having enough power to tow a double horsebox.
My mother-in-law has horses, and we’re often asked to pick them up or move them from one field to another. We thought the Ranger would be a good idea for helping family… turns out it’s a great idea, but you never stop helping people!
Word spreads. People in our friendship group know we have Wilma. It might be helping someone to pick up a set of shelves one evening – it’s no hassle and they’re not having to hire a van. Then they tell three, four, five people and you get a phone call or message from someone new saying, “Is there any chance you can…”
Sometimes it’s an unknown number that pops up – “Hi my name’s X, I know Y, I hear you have a Ranger, could you move my Z please?” Or “We can’t find anyone to pay to drive six hours to Manchester, grab a trailer for us and bring it back – is there any way you could do it?” Whereas I can leave early, be there by lunchtime and back in the evening. Just cover the fuel. Sorted.
The toughest ask was harrowing a field for the local horse school – the usual access was blocked and I feared descending a slippery slope that I couldn’t even walk down, but Wilma made it easy. And she made short work of climbing out of there too. I know she’s not, but she feels indestructible, and she’s so versatile.
I feel gratification when I help someone. I know it can come across that I’m doing it for myself, a bit big-headed, but when you think about it no one else was going to show up – they all say they can do something but they don’t. I take a lot of pride in making time to help people.
“I take a lot of pride in making time to help people.”Ben Glenister, Ford Ranger owner
I get the thank you message through and it puts a big old smile on my face all day.
Also, we can trade favours. I moved some kit around for one of the ladies who works at the Forestry Commission, and she said, “In return I’ll come do a bat walk for your cub group.”
She took the kids out into the forest with detectors that pick up the frequency of the bats flying overhead – the cubs loved it – it was so much better than pointing out blurry shapes in the night sky.
Then I helped her colleague and said, “We’ve done bat walking, I need a tree adventure…” And she gave up her time too. We’re back to the olden days of trading favours instead of money. The community benefits.
The best reward I’ve received? I offered to tow a stuck kebab van. In the end Wilma wasn’t needed, but I was still given something that hit the spot more than anything else could at the time – a humble kebab, for free. That’s enough for me.
Charlie Bristow is vehicles topic producer for Ford in Europe
1 500 18+ pickup drivers and 500 car drivers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, recruited via Censuswide between 26.03.2025 and 07.04.2025
2 Based on S&P Global Mobility sales data 2024. Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
3 Ford Ranger Plug-In Hybrid homologated CO2 emissions 70-72 g/km WLTP, homologated fuel efficiency 3.1-3.2 l/100 km WLTP and pure electric driving range up to 43 km WLTP. The declared WLTP fuel/energy consumptions, CO2 emissions and electric range are determined according to the technical requirements and specifications of the European Regulations (EC) 715/2007 and (EU) 2017/1151 as last amended. The applied standard test procedures enable comparison between different vehicle types and different manufacturers. A range of up to 43 km can be achieved with a fully charged battery - depending on the existing series and battery configuration. The actual range may vary due to various factors (e.g. weather conditions, driving style, route profile, vehicle condition, age and condition of the lithium-ion battery).
