A particularly powerful Ford Ranger Raptor series may hit the Australian market soon based on the five-liter, naturally aspirated V8 mill of the Mustang line.
An anonymous source from within the company claims the production has already been greenlit, and the series will be sold via the authorized dealer network bundled with the usual 5-year warranty.
Allegedly, Ford will take the diesel Ranger (depicted here) as the starting point for the conversion. The specs remain secret, but the Mustang engine can generally produce around 450 hp (336 kW) along with 556 Nm (410 lb-ft) of torque. This represents a substantial improvement over the diesel Ranger’s standard 213 hp (132 kW) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft).
Matt Moran, Communications Director Ford Australia & New Zealand, neither denied nor confirmed the rumor. It should be noted that V8 engines just aren’t available for Ford pickups straight from the factory, not even for the F-150 Raptor full-size truck. The best you can get is an EcoBoost turbo-six mill. That said, numerous tuners will engine-swap your trucks to a V8, so the idea is far from new.