Ford wants to be the “Porsche of off-road”

Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley has come out swinging and decreed the Blue Oval wants to be “the Porsche of off-road” with rule number one being “no boring products”.

The outspoken executive was quoted by Automotive News late last week saying “Ford wants to be the number-one undisputed off-road brand in the world” in the same way Porsche is widely regarded as the ultimate sports car manufacturer.

There’s no denying it’s already off to a promising start with its second-generation Ranger Raptor which has no direct competition, not to mention the more subtle offerings like the Tremor which goes into bat against the diesel-powered Nissan Navara Warriors, Toyota Hilux GR Sport and new Isuzu D-Max Blade.

Things are a bit trickier in the US for the corresponding Bronco SUV however which squares off against the iconic Jeep Wrangler; a model it’s yet to outsell since returning to stateside showrooms in mid-2021.

Steering things a bit left-field is the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally which blends high-performance EV power with high-speed all-terrain fun in a similar fashion to the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato – something not previously seen in the EV space.

But Farley’s ambition goes beyond the showroom, he also wants to rule the motorsport world, especially off-road.

“We do see a huge opportunity there,” Ford advanced product development vice president Jim Baumbick said.

“It’s also this reinforcement of the role motorsports plays as a complement to some of these vehicle programs.

“We’re racing at Dakar not only to race; we’re racing to learn, improve the product and feed that back into our product development to advance our capabilities. You see that same thing playing out with Mustang.”

With the Ranger Raptor already a proven entity, with the same true of the corresponding Bronco and F-150, there’s no telling what else Ford might cook-up in the quest to claim its aspirational crown.

If it truly wants to be Porsche’s off-road counterpart, then even hotter ‘R’ versions of the Ranger and Bronco Raptors would be a good place to start – as per the supercharged V8 F-150 – as well as some sort of Raptor-spec Everest to sit above the enhanced Tremor.

There have been rumours and reports of a Mustang Baja, with some claiming official renders and concepts to have been shown to North American dealers.

“We’re not trying to make toasters on wheels,” Baumbick told Automotive News.

“We’re not trying to make just commodity products. It’s all about emotion.”

The existence of the ultra-capable and ultra-expensive Mustang GTD and Mach-E Rally is proof enough Ford’s willing to invest in not-boring cars, so the next few years should be very interesting indeed.

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