The Ford Raptor family album
The Raptor bloodline is short but brutal – and there’s much more to come
The “Raptor” name is synonymous with go-fast Ford utes. Seems like it’s been around forever. But incredibly, the Ford Raptor has only been around since 2009, first with the US-market F-150 and later with the much-loved Ranger Raptor in this part of the world (from 2018).
The Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT) actually started making performance-focused pickups in 1993, with the tarmac-biased F-150 Lightning (no, not the electric one). It immediately gained a cult following, but by the end of the second generation in the early2000s the company decided the truck was getting too big and heavy to lend itself to highperformance antics on the road.
Looking at the massive aftermarket that existed for extreme off-road modifications, Ford set about making a dunehopping monster with factory credentials and created the 2009 F-150 Raptor, with a choice of two
V8 engines and Fox Racing suspension. A legend was born.
The second-generation model in 2017 upped the off-road attitude but dropped the V8 power, coming with a 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 instead. It did introduce a 10-speed automatic transmission, though – the first non-commercial vehicle in the world to do so.
The third generation was introduced last year and retains the EcoBoost engine, but has also brought back the V8: in 5.0-litre form initially, but with a thunderous 567kW supercharged unit to come for the Raptor R.
The brand has now extended well beyond the F-150. The Ranger Raptor needs no introduction to Kiwis, but there’s also a new Raptor version of the Bronco SUV in the US – based on the same platform as the all-new Ranger Raptor revealed this week.
Powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 and inspired by Ultra4 off-road racing (it’s the “official truck” of the series), the Bronco follows the well-established Raptor recipe: wider, bouncier and dripping in expensive off-road suspension tech, with up to 60 per cent more wheel travel than the standard Bronco.