Future-proofing is a term often thrown around liberally these days – indeed, for designers and product planners, it's their job to make sure that their offerings remain relevant for the entire duration of them being put up for sale.
But these are turbulent, uncertain days, as everyone scrambles around to figure out the sort of life citizens of the imaginary perfect utopian future lives, and quite often the new products sent out to test the waters can receive a not-so-perfect reception by the buying public. It's no wonder companies tend to be so conservative nowadays, catering only to what the current population wants, not what it wants to be.
Which is why Ford's bold 2011 reimagining of its regional breadwinner, the Ranger, was so inspired. The sophistication and refinement built into the T6 iteration was hitherto unheard of – it was a move so shrewd in predicting the quickly changing tastes of the market that only recently have competitors started to catch up.
Four years later, the same treatment is finally extended to the Ranger's oft-forgotten SUV sibling, the Ford Everest. The company promises plenty for its latest offering (due to arrive in November), but with a recently-introduced rival from Isuzu and strong contenders from Toyota and Mitsubishi coming on stream soon, can the Everest even keep up with the Joneses, let alone push forth a path towards the future? We ventured into the dense jungles of Chiang Rai – sampling both 2.2 litre 4x2 and 3.2 litre 4x4 variants – to find out.
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