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ord Motor Company has updated its flagship pickup truck model, the Ford Ranger, unveiling it to car aficionados at the 2015 Bangkok International Motor Show (BIMS).

The global premier of the Ranger T6 aims to leverage the company'€™s sales in Southeast Asia by taking advantage of its production facilities and the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of this year, company representatives say.

According to Ford ASEAN president Matt Bradley, the Ranger is expected to drive the vehicle manufacturer'€™s sales in the pickup truck segment, having contributed 50 percent in total regional sales last year, from the total 100,000 units.

'€œWe'€™ll continue to leverage that [sales] momentum on the Ranger,'€ Bradley said during a press conference at BIMS in Bangkok, Thailand, early this week.

Thailand constitutes the largest market for Ford in the region, with sales topping 40,000 units last year and the Philippines and Vietnam trailing behind at second and third place, respectively.

Bradley said he was confident that sales of the new Ranger would surpass the company'€™s 2014 achievements of 50,000 Ranger units, arguing that the pickup truck segment in ASEAN was '€œfairly large and healthy and continues to grow'€.

This optimism, paired with the introduction of the AEC, would support the company'€™s plans to outperform the industry and gain market share.

'€œWe'€™ve been operating under a strategy where free fair trade benefits our production source in Thailand, such that we can produce here and export to countries in the region,'€ Bradley told reporters.

'€œOur strategy today leverages the free trade agreement, and as the AEC unfolds, the free flow of goods and services will only benefit our current model.'€

The senior company official hinted that the pickup truck would be going into production for the region, including Indonesia, in the second half of the year.

Ford currently has two facilities to mass produce the Ranger and the company'€™s other flagship vehicle, the Ford Everest '€” which will also be launched at the motor show '€” for the ASEAN market, in addition to the some 180 markets worldwide.

In terms of total capacity output, Ford says it is capable of manufacturing almost 400,000 units per year from the $2 billion AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT) plant in Rayong, Thailand, which is a joint venture with Japanese car producer Mazda, as well as the new $450 million Ford Thailand Manufacturing (FTM) plant.

Pricing for the new Ranger has yet to be revealed, although it is expected to be similar to the current price of 1.124 million baht (US$34,522) for the high-end, four-door, double-cabin model.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Indonesia (FMI) managing director Bagus Susanto said that the company was working on expanding its outreach in the country, with a number of new outlets slated for opening in Jakarta, Java, Pontianak in Kalimantan, Palembang and Lampung in Sumatra, as well as Palu in Central Sulawesi '€” which happens to be the largest market for the Ranger model nationwide.

According to Bagus, previous Ranger sales in the country predominantly came from mining companies, plantation owners and oil and gas operations, most of which are located in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. He claimed that FMI had sold around 3,000 units of Rangers from the total sales of 12,000 units in 2014, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year.

Data from the Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo) said that the double-cabin 4x2 and 4x4 segment had net sales of 11,487 units in 2014.