Ford Ranger Raptor teaser too hot for Oz

The hotly anticipated 2022 Ford Ranger Raptor was teased in another promotional video last night, but Australian viewers were denied the truly exciting version.

While the Australian teaser showed a Ranger Raptor prototype being driven at speed on an outback course, with the overdubbed noise all but confirming it will be powered by the Bronco Raptor’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6, the trailer video Ford released overseas contains several shots of the hard-core Ranger becoming airborne – all of which were removed locally.

Jumps have played a key part in Raptor promotional material since the model’s inception, proving the toughness of its suspension componentry and providing a link to desert races like the Baja 1000.

The footage of the new Ranger Raptor jumping was removed due to Australia’s extraordinarily strict vehicle advertising standards, which prohibit any vision of a vehicle being driven in a manner that could be deemed as unsafe.

Ford fell foul of these standards with the advertising of the current-gen Ranger Raptor, the commercial for which had to be pulled after Ad Standards Australia received complaints from viewers that it was “dangerous”, “destructive” and “reckless”.

Meantime, eagle-eyed viewers on social media have spotted a cable protruding from the side of the Ranger Raptor’s dampers, suggesting it will adapt the ‘live-valve’ suspension from the F-150 and Bronco Raptor.

This semi-active system takes signals from all over the vehicle to almost predict the terrain the car is traveling over and adjust the suspension stiffness accordingly – handy when your 2.5-tonne ute is flying through the air!

Based on the new Australian-developed Ford Ranger due in showrooms within months, the second-generation Ford Ranger Raptor will be publicly unveiled on February 22, ahead of its global release later this year.

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au