Will Ford Ranger MS-RT one day be sold in SA?

The design of the Ranger MS-RT has been patented in South Africa, but Ford’s local division says it has no plans to launch the motorsport-inspired bakkie “at this stage”…

British company M-Sport Road Technology (MS-RT) has quietly registered the design of the Ford Ranger MS-RT with South Africa’s patent office, while the nameplate has also been trademarked locally. So, is this low-riding version of the Blue Oval brand’s double-cab bakkie about to hit Mzansi’s roads?

Well, seemingly not – at least not in the short term, anyway. Ford Motor Company of SA told Cars.co.za that it has “no plans at this stage to bring the Ranger MS-RT to South Africa”. Still, the inclusion of the words “at this stage” suggests the door is not entirely closed.

And, of course, the fact that Edward Davies Commercials Ltd – the British company trading as MS-RT – registered the design of the motorsport-inspired Ranger MS-RT in South Africa in March 2025 (having applied back in August 2024) furthermore hints at the possibility of this model one day making local landfall.

As a reminder, MS-RT is effectively the road division of motorsport engineering business, M-Sport Limited. The Blue Oval brand describes MS-RT as “an offshoot of Ford’s rally partner M-Sport”. Indeed, M-Sport has been the driving force behind Ford’s FIA World Rally Championship efforts since 1997.

Interestingly, M-Sport Limited applied to trademark the “MS-RT” badge in South Africa as long ago as February 2022, with a registration taking place in September 2023. The latest Ranger MS-RT – pitched as a street-biased alternative to the off-road Raptor – was revealed in the 1st quarter of 2024. Based on the Silverton-made Ranger, this model is converted at MS-RT’s dedicated space inside Ford’s Dagenham facility in the United Kingdom.

However, in November 2024, the Ranger MS-RT was also announced for Thailand, with just 200 units set aside for the Southeast Asian nation. In that market, the donor Ranger is sourced from Ford’s Rayong factory, before being converted by the RMA Group, an authorised Qualified Vehicle Modifier (QVM) with the Dearborn-based firm.

If the RMA Group sounds familiar, that’s because the company has a division in South Africa, too. RMA Automotive South Africa (RMAASA) is a member of the RMA Group and currently operates not only a 1 500m² facility in Silverton but also a “vehicle personalisation centre” right inside Ford’s facility in the same region.

This centre, says RMAASA, is “dedicated to the fitment of specialised low- and high-volume components on the Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok”. RMAASA is, of course, likewise a Qualified Vehicle Modifier with Ford and also recognised by Nissan as an “Approved Vehicle Converter” in the commercial segment (converting the Magnite passenger vehicle into the Move-badged panel van, for instance).

So, if Ford Motor Company of SA were to decide to offer the MS-RT version of the Ranger – a bakkie that was the nation’s best-selling double cab in 2024 – RMAASA would seem to be the most likely candidate to carry out such a conversion. RMAASA’s website furthermore lists other “strategic partners” as Toyota, Mahindra, Isuzu and Stellantis.

The Ranger MS-RT offered in Europe and Thailand is powered by Ford’s familiar 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6 engine (as used in the Wildtrak and Platinum locally), sending an unchanged 184 kW and 600 Nm to all 4 corners via a 10-speed automatic transmission.

The converted bakkie rides 40 mm lower and measures 82 mm wider than the standard Wildtrak, while “motorsport-inspired” styling upgrades comprise a honeycomb grille, 21-inch “OZ Racing” alloy wheels and an aerodynamic body kit that includes side skirts, wheel-arch extensions, a rear diffuser, a ducktail spoiler and a cab spoiler.

Inside, you’ll find bucket-style sports seats featuring the “MS-RT” logo and blue stitching, along with soft-touch finishes. Though it’s not clear what the suspension modifications entail beyond what the RMA Group calls “sturdier dampers”, it seems payload and towing capacities are largely unchanged.

Question is, would the low-riding Ranger MS-RT resonate with South African consumers? Or do local bakkie buyers require loftier ground clearance and off-road ability by default? Whatever the answer, it’s a thought that has surely crossed the minds of Ford Motor Company of SA’s product planners…