The Ford Ranger Wildtrak has been floating around Australia, the Phillipines and other spots across the world for some years now. The off-road-ready Ranger Raptor-lite was recently spotted testing in Michigan -- hopefully a sign that the rugged pickup will eventually be sold here.

This one was caught completely undisguised, sporting the Wildtrak logo inside and out. Down Under, the Wildtrak gets bigger wheels, a bedliner, more ground clearance and some styling tweaks including the sport bar (or whatever you call that buttress thing behind the cabin). Power comes from Ford’s 3.2-liter diesel, but we’d assume we’ll get something more U.S. friendly -- maybe a four-cylinder, hopefully a manual and possibly the 2.7-liter V6 EcoBoost.

This could be a perfect middle ground between the standard Ranger and the Raptor Ranger, which, we'll note, isn’t confirmed for the U.S. either. But with the Ranger returning to our market, we can make a good case both off-road-oriented variants will be.

The basic Ford Ranger goes on sale in the first quarter of 2019; we wouldn't expect to see this until later next year, if ever.

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