2012 Ford Ranger T6 Australian spy photos

Last time we spoke to our renowned spy photographer, he explained to us that the new lens he bought allows him to gain two F-stops of light, but the addition of a teleconverter takes away one F-stop ...whatever that means.

Anyway, the main thing is that he has snapped photos of the 2012 Ford Ranger, codenamed the 'T6'.

Photographed just outside Geelong, in Victoria (which is in Australia for our overseas visitors) it's seen here in rep-mobile white.

It's quite easy to tell that this prototype is based heavily on the Mazda BT-50. Put two photos of the car side-by-side and you'll see what we mean. It's presumed this prototype will form the bones of Ford's global commercial vehicle platform and although it looks very similar to the BT-50, the headlights and doors are where the similarities end.

Our photographer says that both the dual-cab and single-cab vehicles seen pictured were fitted with diesel engines.

You can expect to see Ford's current 3.0-litre, 4-cylinder common-rail turbo diesel engine carried over. Producing 115kW and 380Nm of torque, it provides more than enough pulling power. There has also been speculation that Ford will use a smaller capacity turbocharged petrol engine, along with a smaller capacity diesel motor.

There's still no word from Ford on what will happen with the Ranger. All we know is that once Volkswagen's Robust hits our shores, they will need to shape up. The commercial vehicle game has been stuck in the dark ages in terms of safety, features and versatility for some time now and Volkswagen says they plan on changing all that.

The global Ford Ranger program is being developed in Australia, so we'll be showcasing our engineering efforts on a global scale. Hopefully the designers of the Ford Ka and Taurus have nothing to do with the project!

It's still unclear whether Mazda will also be involved in the process, either with the production or sharing of body panels as was seen with the current Ranger and BT-50.

We can expect to see greater safety features such a stability control and friendlier pedestrian impact built into the 2012 Ranger, along with great fuel efficiency and features.

Stay tuned, we will bring you more information as it comes to hand.