South Africa's bakkie-mad market has just got even more competitive with the launch of Ford SA's locally produced Ranger Tremor and upmarket Ranger Platinum.

It's not like I don't have enough to worry about. On any given day I'll find myself stressing about real-world problems: impending nuclear war, the next pandemic, AI cloning my skills, cyber scams, the ever-rising cost of fuel (and mangoes), the threat of famine, floods and drought... the list is endless. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, I'll find myself thinking about a Ford Ranger bakkie salesperson.

Since the launch of the new Ranger in late 2022, those who flog blue-oval-badged bakkies to put bread on the table have been faced with the onerous task of having to intimately know and sell 25 different models of the New Generation Ranger. These include the base model, the XL, the XLT, the Wildtrak, the Wildtrak X and the top-of-the-range Raptor. And then there are single cabs, double cabs, 4x2s, 4x4s, plus all the add-ons and the options. You'd have to have a Bachelor's in Bakkies to get your head around all of these derivatives.

And now, to make the salesperson's job that much more challenging, Ford SA has thrown two more steeds into the mix: the Ford Ranger Tremor and Platinum. But who can blame the motoring giant for trying to capitalise...