I think they meant it has much larger % share of pickup market in Europe vs US, not necessarily higher absolute number of sales (https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/feu/en/news/2025/02...)
The similar (but not identical) US model is the Tacoma.
Oddly enough, it says this was developed in Australia but might be the ranger selling in the USA/Europe now (the same one we are talking about). But the P703 is the model (a T6 variant) sold internationally now. It doesn’t surprise me that the current ranger was designed abroad. What I really don’t get is that ford doesn’t make cars in Australia anymore but they still design them there?
This is a very common misconception.
At no point have the hilux and Tacoma shared any parts. Not engines, transmissions, frames, breaks, axles, wiring or anything interior.
The hilux is a small efficient turbo diesel with plenty of torque. The Tacoma is an anemic gas V6 that gets horrible mileages.
The Tacoma is significantly larger, and has a lower payload.
The hilux is an actual utility work vehicle, the Tacoma cosplays as one.
I’ve lived in Australia and Canada for 20 years each, driven many models of each many tens of thousands of kilometres.
They are on different platforms and are significantly different vehicles but they absolutely have shared parts. There are no bespoke cars built anymore, it is no longer viable to build a mass produced car without using some parts off the shelf.
For example, both vehicles have used: 2TR-FE engine, RC60F manual transmission, AC60F automatic transmission, etc.