A wild Ford Ranger Wildtrak X appears at the Commercial Vehicle Show held in Birmingham, England. It's the new special edition of the Ford Ranger and comes with a radiator grille, sport bar, roof rails, side steps, alloy wheels and Wildtrak decals all finished in black. Sitting on twin-spoke 18-inch wheels that sport 265/60/R18 Continental Cross Contact tires, the Wildtrak X will be powered by a 3.2-liter TDCi diesel engine.

I wonder what the odds are of us seeing this variant in North America. I quite like the additional options it has over the standard Ranger. Although we'll have to wait on a price point as most of these mods could be easily done through aftermarket. Doubt we'll see a diesel engine if it does in fact come here.

As far as I know, the Ford Ranger Wildtrak X isn't limited to Europe only but they didn't really mention availability either so it's hard to guess what Ford has in store for it. I can see the trim being popular in North America, but it did take the automaker years to even ring the model across the pond.

We'll seeing as how Ford still hasn't confirmed whether or not the Raptor variant will indeed come to North America, this could end up being the top trim. It looks like the Wildtrak X will only be available in a double cab, so that may limit the amount of interest in the trim.

Ford may be over doing it with the number of different trim options they are bringing to the Ranger platform. Although they haven't confirmed if all these different configurations will be available globally, I don't see the need for a trim above the Wildtrak, if the Raptor variant is also available. If you're going to diversify the trims, at least make some changes under the hood across models.

Ford has already indicated that the Wildtrak X will be exclusive to Europe, so I think they are taking some steps to prevent over saturating a given market. I don't think we will be seeing an expansion to the powertrain options until the next generation of Rangers unfortunately.

IT would have been more of a loss if the Wildtrak X had more to offer than just a new set of tires and a few exterior modifications. Not much seems to have been done to the suspension system. Isn't the 3.2-liter TDCi diesel engine going to be offered with the normal Ranger later?

Correct. It would be a shame if they didn't because rivals like the upcoming Jeep Scrambler will which can easily steal away some of the Rangers customer base. Reports suggest it will come with a six-speed automatic transmission. Same setup in the Transit that gets towing cap of 3,280 lbs and 4,800 lbs.

I think the Scrambler is one competitor that everyone keeps forgetting about. The nameplate holds a lot of buying power, and I wouldn't be surprised if it sees a huge amount of interest at launch. I'm pretty sure all Scrambler trims have been outlined showing a 6,500lb towing capacity.

Little, if anyone knows about it so its a natural to be news to most folks. Once released it will make a big impact. Hard not to given the fact it will ride the waves the Wrangler has paved for it all these years.