Almost seven years after car giant Ford shut down the Falcon production line at Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, a Victorian-developed vehicle has won 2023 Drive Car of the Year.
The Ford Ranger has become the first ute to win the prize in the 18-year history of the award.
The Australian-designed Ford Ranger is the 2023 Drive Car of the Year.Credit: Mark Bean
Although the vehicle is made in Thailand – the second-biggest source of new motor vehicles sold in Australia after Japan and ahead of South Korea – the Ford Ranger has significant Victorian DNA, having been designed and engineered locally across facilities in Broadmeadows and Geelong.
Drive, which is owned by Nine (the publisher of this masthead), chose the Ranger after test-driving 62 vehicles across 19 award categories thousands for the awards.
The prize confirms the rise of the ute, which now outsells sedans, wagons and hatchbacks as a class of vehicle.
The two top-selling vehicles in Australia during the past six years have been utes: the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger.
Although electric vehicles only accounted for 3 per cent of new-car sales in Australia last year, more than one-third of the Drive Car of the Year field were hybrid or electric.
While judges praised the advancements of electric cars, price and driving range weighed against them for overall honours.
“Electric and hybrid cars absolutely were front and centre of our minds and our testing, and they are getting better every time a new model comes out,” said Drive content director James Ward. “But for now, Australians still need a broad choice of vehicles to suit a broad range of needs, which is why we have crowned an overall winner, as well as 19 category winners.”