When it comes to testing a pre-production vehicle on public roads, drivers aren't only responsible for gathering important data, but also have to make sure prototypes fly beneath the radar.
Unfortunately for Ford Australia, testing of the next-generation Ranger was thrust into the public eye when a group of highly-camoflaged utes were spotted at a KFC car park in New South Wales.
The pictures first appeared on Facebook of the four utes, which show the Melbourne-based engineering team rushing to get covers over the utes after they had parked up for lunch.
Considering that the Rangers were already completely covered in camouflage wraps, covers seem rather redundant, but they're obviously trying to keep the project a secret for now.
Unfortunately, this means that we're yet to get a good look at the 2022 Ranger, but this new ute is rumoured to take a lot from its American-built cousin in the aesthetic department.
Despite the camouflage, you can see the signs of vertically stacked headlights — something that's become an industry standard on trucks stateside.
Interestingly, this Ranger will serve as the base for Volkswagen's new Amarok, which we can expect to see around 18 months after the Ranger breaks cover.
As it is sharing things with the Amarok, there are rumours that the Ranger might get a turbocharged V6 engine, but we'll have to wait and see what happens there.
Ford should be whipping the covers off the 2022 Ranger before the end of this year, and we expect to start seeing it in showrooms from early 2022.