New Ford Ranger Raptor to pack 300kW petrol V6

The next-generation Ford Ranger Raptor will be powered by a beefy 300kW 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 that will easily out-perform the 157kW/500Nm Bi-Turbo 2.0-litre diesel in the current model, including the upcoming Raptor X.

That’s according to US website Ford Authority, which cites “sources familiar with the matter”.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard such speculation, but this report insists the lusty EcoBoost V6 – which delivers up to about 300kW and 560Nm via a 10-speed automatic transmission in the US-market Ford Explorer ST – will be the sole engine offering in the new Ranger Raptor, which could be sold in the US for the first time.

However, it’s still unclear what engine will power the 2022 Ford Ranger Raptor in Australia, where it and the new Ford Ranger on which it’s based are being developed alongside the second-generation Volkswagen Amarok.

While the new Amarok won’t be released until 2023, the new Ford Ranger will be revealed globally later this year, before its Australian launch in early 2022.

The latest intel poses a number of questions about the next Ranger’s powertrains, which are expected to include the 3.0-litre Power Stroke V6 diesel from the Ford F-150, in which it delivers up to 186kW/597Nm.

While the existing four-cylinder Bi-Turbo ‘Panther’ diesel (known as EcoBlue outside Australia) will become the standard engine in the 2022 Ranger, following the axing of the long-running 3.2-litre five-cylinder Panther turbo-diesel (147kW/470Nm), it remains unclear which Ranger variants will receive the Power Stroke V6.

The most likely scenario is it will be reserved for the Raptor (both in Australia and other predominantly diesel markets), which debuted the existing Bi-Turbo that’s now available across the Ranger and Everest model lines.

Meantime the EcoBoost V6 would likely power the first Raptor sold in the US and other predominantly petrol markets, where it would slot neatly below the new Ford F-150 Raptor powered by a 340kW/690Nm-plus 3.5-litre twin-turbo EcoBoost petrol V6.

By the way, the upcoming Ford F-150 Raptor, based on the 14th generation of North America’s favourite pick-up, will be joined in 2022 by an all-new Raptor R flagship powered by a circa-566kW/847Nm 5.2-litre supercharged V8 from the Mustang Shelby GT500 to fight the new RAM TRX super-ute.

Of course, Ford is yet to confirm any details about its next Ranger – let alone its next Ranger Raptor, which is expected to more closely follow the standard Ranger’s launch this time round – and a number of possibilities exist.

For example, it’s possible Australia’s new Ranger will arrive with the EcoBlue 2.0-litre diesel as standard, the Power Stroke 3.0-litre diesel V6 for premium versions like FX4 MAX and Wildtrak, and the EcoBoost 3.5-litre petrol V6 for the Raptor.

That scenario would avoid the criticisms levelled at the outgoing Ranger Raptor, which copped flak for offering no more engine performance than other (subsequent) Ranger variants, and no petrol power at all.

However, that didn’t stop the original Ranger Raptor from being enormously popular – and profitable. It was launched at a cool $74,990 plus on-road costs from launch in mid-2018, but since then Ford upped the price to $77,690 and introduced the even more expensive Raptor X ($79,390 plus ORCs).

Despite the potential business case to offer all three engines in Australia, that may be prohibited by the extra complexity in showrooms and at the Thai factory where our Ranger is produced.

It’s more likely, therefore, that Ford will stick with diesel power for the Raptor in south-east Asian markets including Australia, and petrol power for the Americas – as it currently does with mainstream Rangers, which are exclusively diesel here and exclusively petrol in the US.

Whichever way Ford goes with Raptor engines, the Ranger looks set to remain the Blue Oval brand’s best-selling and most lucrative model in Australia, and the F-Series range is certain to remain its cash cow in the US.