Troller T4 History

The T4's origins trace to 1995, when Rogério Farias founded Troller in Horizonte, Ceará. The first prototype was built in April 1996 under the original single-L brand name 'Troler,' and the model was called the RF Sport (RF for Rogério Farias). Built on a tubular steel chassis with a fiberglass composite body — the same construction method used for dune buggies — it measured just 3.94 m long on a 2.40 m wheelbase, with attack and departure angles better than 50 degrees. The early cars used Volkswagen's 1.8-liter AP four-cylinder gasoline engine (99 cv), upgraded to the 2.0-liter AP (110 cv) in 1998; approximately 44 pre-series examples were sold to rally pilots between 1996 and 1997 as a rolling development program.

A new investor, Mário Araripe, acquired the company in 1997 and formalized mass production. The purpose-built Horizonte factory opened in 1999, and by the second generation (2001–2014) the car wore its definitive 'T4' name and moved to diesel engines, gaining wider appeal with Brazilian police, military, and expedition buyers. Ford do Brasil purchased Troller in January 2007 for approximately R$400 million (roughly US$205 million), integrating its supply chain and injecting Ford components into the interior. By mid-2008 the T4 was Brazil's best-selling SUV, and by April 2010 cumulative production had reached 10,000 units.

The third and final generation arrived for 2014, heavily redesigned around Ford's T6 platform — the same underpinning used by the global Ford Ranger — and inspired by Troller's TR-X Concept show vehicle. The new body, now made in SMC (Sheet Molding Compound) fiberglass, sat on a ladder frame with a Bosch ABS, and the sole powertrain was Ford's 3.2-liter five-cylinder Duratorq turbodiesel producing 200 cv (roughly 197 hp) and 470 Nm of torque, driving all four wheels through a Getrag MT-82 six-speed manual; a 6R80 six-speed automatic was added for the 2021 model year. Production ceased in October 2021 when Ford shuttered all of its Brazilian manufacturing operations, ending the T4 after 25 years.