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- Ford officially shows off the second-generation Ford Ranger Raptor.
- CEO Jim Farley confirms the Ranger Raptor is headed to North America in 2023.
- The sporty off-roader adds a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 under the hood but keeps the 2.0-liter diesel alive in certain markets.
Ford’s Raptor program capitalized on the growing off-road trend and turned it into a showroom special. Kicking up a dust storm with the wildly successful Ford F-150 Raptor, the desert-charging package became an instant success and helped make the argument for a few spinoffs.
Ford’s team in Australia likely gazed at the expansive Outback and started working on its own Raptor based on the Ford Ranger. The first-generation Ranger Raptor debuted for the 2019 model year and did not make its way to the truck-frenzied US, partly because Ford brand managers feared it would overlap with the enormously popular F-150 Raptor.
The Ranger Raptor has been a mid-sized brute that Ford fans had to desire from afar, but those times are coming to an end with the second-generation Ranger Raptor, according to Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.
This upcoming Ranger Raptor successor sees more than just geographic changes. Under the hood is now a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 that makes 284 hp and 362 lb-ft of torque in European trim. That number jumps to 392 hp and 400 lb-ft for Australia.
Of course, these numbers won't reflect the output for North America, but it will probably be closer to Australia's figures. This is a significant upgrade over the current Ranger Raptor's 2.0-liter EcoBlue diesel that makes only 210 hp.
Ford does note the EcoBlue engine will remain available in the Ranger Raptor, though we doubt it's coming to America. Ford says details about this engine will be available closer to launch. Managing the power is exclusively a 10-speed automatic.
The real reason you’d buy a Ranger Raptor isn’t its engine: it’s the suspension. Dampening the desert terrain is a set of Fox Live Valve shocks. These position-sensitive dampers are filled with a Teflon-infused oil that, according to Ford, reduces the friction inside of the shock by half, which should help your suspension react more quickly.
These dampers also feature Bottom-Out Control, which significantly increases dampening force in the last quarter of the shock’s travel to help the suspension from, well, bottoming out, and to prevent the rear of the truck from squatting during heavy acceleration.
For more control in any situation, Ford stuffed seven different drive modes into the Ranger Raptor. Split between three on-road drive modes and four off-road drive modes, there’s probably some way the Ranger Raptor can help you out of any situation. The on-road modes are Normal, Sport, and Slippery. The off-road drive modes are Rock Crawl, Sand, Mud/Ruts, and Baja—terrain where electronic intervention could come in handy.
In shaping the upcoming Ranger Raptor, Ford was smart to not lean into the aggressive styling started by the F-150 Raptor. That explains the massive block-letter Ford grille up front, flared fenders on the side, and more aggressive styling at the rear.
There’s no word on price, but it will surely undercut the Ford F-150 Raptor while sitting atop the Ranger lineup. You can probably expect to see the Ranger Raptor start close to $50,000 by the time it arrives in the US next year.
Do you think the Ranger Raptor will live up to its bigger F-150 Raptor's name, or will it live in its shadows? Let us know in the comments below.
