Well, to Aussie at least.

Ford’s F150, the best-selling pickup in the world, is headed to our part of the world.

So far, it’s only in Australia; Ford New Zealand not yet confirming supply into this market.

While the F150 is eagerly awaited in Australia, the absence of the F150 leaves Ford as the only brand not selling big pickups in New Zealand. It is a small but valuable niche in the market, and both Chevy and Ram have been logging strong sales.

Complicating matters for these big brands is New Zealand’s clean car legislation, which will hit importers of such vehicles harder this year.

In preparation for the Australian arrival of the officially imported Ford F-150 ute – tipped to be in the second half of this year – Ford Australia has begun subjecting the big American truck to the rigours of Aussie driving conditions by putting it through its paces at the You Yangs vehicle testing facility near Melbourne.

Ford says the 2023 F-150 is the toughest and most productive model ever and will do well when it eventually goes on sale. The Australian dealer network is already holding “thousands of prospective orders”.

It will be available in XLT and Lariat grades, both featuring the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 engine coupled with a 10-speed automatic transmission in 4x4 dual-cab configuration.

Ford Australia performance and customisation chief programme engineer Dave Burn said F-150 buyers “can rest assured it’s been put through the same local durability programme as Next-Generation Ranger and Everest.”

Mr Burn added that this torture test “is the same programme left-hand drive F-150 went through in the States.”

Ford says durability is at the core of the F-150 and during local engineering and development it had to cope with everything from -40°C and +50°C temperatures to trailer towing, mud, ultra-fine sand, water crossings and corrosion tests.

In total, Australian durability testing covered more than 135,000km – the equivalent of driving around Australia nine times. Ford Australia did not hold back, driving the F-150 across its torturous Silver Creek Road durability track hundreds of times.

Ford Australia has appointed Thailand-based third-party supplier RMA to oversee the local right-hand-drive conversion, which will be undertaken in a new facility not far from the former Ford Falcon production line at Broadmeadows on the north-western outskirts of Melbourne.

Despite RMA’s long-standing association with Ford in Thailand – where it fits bullbars, canopies, cages and other specialist equipment to military and police vehicles for the Asia-Pacific region – it has never before undertaken a left-to-right-hand-drive conversion program on such scale.

Ford says both the F-150 XLT and F-150 Lariat model grades to be offered locally will be four-door “Crew Cab” pickups with a choice of short-wheelbase or long-wheelbase configurations.