The Ford Ranger might seem like a relatively new truck in the United States, having been around since the 2019MY, but Australia has had the T6 generation of the midsize pickup for about a decade, twinned with the previous-gen Mazda BT-50. That means it's high time for a new iteration of the workhorse, one that will probably debut in the first months of 2022 seeing as how the Blue Oval has already teased it.

In the meantime, there's no shortage of spy shots as a new image has emerged to show not one, but three different trim levels of the truck. We're being told by the folks over at Ranger6G the 2022 Ranger is featured here (from left to right) in the XLT, FX4, and Wildtrak trims. Of the three, only the XLT is available for the current truck sold in the United States where it's the midlevel version, between the base XL and the top-spec Lariat. These are not the only trims North America is missing out on as we also sadly didn't get the Raptor.

Gallery: 2023 Ford Ranger teasers

Because the trucks are still heavily camouflaged, the differences between the three are not that obvious, although the Wildtrak seems to have different headlights, a honeycomb pattern for the front grille, and roof rails. The FX4 has chrome accents around the fog lights and a different alloy wheel design compared to the XLT.

The general impression we're getting is of a Maverick-esque front end, which can be both good and bad depending on whether you're a fan of how Ford designed its smallest truck. Alternatively, the next Amarok will look significantly different even though it will borrow the underpinnings from the Ranger as part of a tie-up between VW and Ford, with the former sharing its MEB platform with the latter for a compact EV.

Bear in mind that while the Ranger is weeks or months away from being unveiled, we've heard through the grapevine the US-spec model won't enter production until May 1, 2023, before dealers will have it for sale a couple of months later. It'll supposedly have an eight-year life cycle and offer a high-performance Raptor version in North America, but not the current truck's torquey diesel as it's expected to have a gasoline V6.

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