Ford Ranger Raptor V8 coming

If you’re salivating at the prospect of a V8-powered Ford Ranger Raptor then be prepared to get in quick and spend big.

News of the Raptor V8 broke in Wheels magazine last week and we understand that if it does get the green light from Ford Australia, the first V8-powered Ranger will be an Australian-engineered limited-edition.

So that means big bucks and small production numbers.

How big? Well, the standard 157kW/500Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel Ford Ranger Raptor costs $76,290 plus ORCs. Retrofitting the Mustang GT’s 339kW Coyote V8 into its engine bay – yes folks, it does fit – locally would surely drive pricing north of $100K!

That would set a new pricing benchmark for a ‘one-tonne’ mid-size 4x4 ute, as well an incredible new performance benchmark for the class that would well and truly address the primary criticism of the diesel Raptor – it’s slow in a straight line.

In addition, there would be no Outback track the Ford Ranger Raptor V8 couldn’t crush, and the towing capacity might be improved from the current Raptor’s 2500kg maximum.

And what about build numbers? The Raptor V8 would appear toward the end of the current-generation T6 Ranger’s life cycle, before it’s replaced by the final homegrown T7 Ranger in 2021, giving it one hell of a send-off.

Ford’s blueprint for this sort of exercise has already been set by the Mustang R-Spec, a local development by Ford and second-stage manufacturer Herrod Performance.

Just 500 examples of the 500kW special-edition muscle-car will be offered at a price of $99,800 plus ORCs – a hefty $36,000 above the price of a standard Mustang GT coupe.

A lot of that price impost is for modifying the existing V8 engine in addition, rather than the engine transplant proposed for Raptor, which is a more expensive proposition.

But as with the Mustang R-Spec, the Raptor V8 will be available via Ford dealers and backed by Ford’s five-year factory warranty.

So who would do the work?

Herrod Performance, owned by legendary Aussie Ford tuner Rob Herrod, is not involved.

That leaves two obvious candidates in Premcar and Tickford, the two halves of what was once Ford Performance Vehicles/Racing/Prodrive.

Tickford, which is best known as a Supercars team, has been in the Ford product enhancement business for a few years now and offers several Ranger and Mustang upgrades.

While it had a frosty relationship with Ford Australia for a while, the two have cosied up again and Tickford is now working on several engineering projects for the Blue Oval.

Tickford insists a V8 Ranger Raptor is not one of them.

Which leaves Premcar. It has in-depth engineering ability as demonstrated by 2019’s Holy Grail Falcon, a strong relationship with Ford and is understood to have previously experimented with fitting a V8 engine in the Ranger.

Premcar is also involved with Nissan, having done the development work on the Navara Warrior ute and is in-line to do other work for the Japanese company.

But it too says it knows nothing about the V8 Ranger program, which was first exposed by spy shots of a V8 test mule taken by a carsales reader in Geelong last April.

Hopefully, someone is in charge, because we all want it built!