There’s no denying it – the current-generation Ford Ranger Raptor was a hit with punters, despite featuring what many describe as an engine that was too small to begin with.
When Ford sat down to ideate the 2022 Ford Ranger Raptor, the brief was all about ‘moving the needle’ and not standing still. And that’s where the idea for the twin-turbocharged petrol V6 came from.
Speaking exclusively with CarExpert, Ford performance program manager, Justin Capicchiano, said that the diesel engine wasn’t going to cut it – especially for the US market.
“The big one [in terms of program changes] is having a step up powertrain for some of those like the the US markets, like, that’s something that they’re very interested in. The Australian market was, I’d classify them, as happy with the current Raptor, like, yes, we sold a lot of current Raptors, right,” Capicchiano said.
“So [it] obviously ticked a lot of boxes for a lot of people. But just rehashing and doing the same thing with a different body. Yep, isn’t really moving the needle, right.
“And [with] Ford Performance, it’s all about stepping up, and not maintaining a status quo. Because if someone does come into the market, they’ll look at, you know, the current 375 Raptor [the codename for the current generation] and say, well, that’s, that’s what it is.
“But we don’t want to be standing still, right, Ford Performance is always about, well, this is the next-gen suspension stuff, this is where we want to go for powertrain. And that’s where we’re moving the needle to.”
Capicchiano is of course referring to the huge step up in powertrain for Ranger Raptor. It has gone from a 2.0-litre twin-turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine producing 157kW of power and 500Nm of torque, to a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged six-cylinder petrol engine producing almost 300kW of power and around 600Nm of torque.
The pairing of a permanent four-wheel drive system also means that power and torque is accessible to the customer – not to mention the inclusion of rally-bred anti-lag turbocharger technology and state of the art suspension.
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