Ford News: Ford Says No To Ranger Raptor For U.S.

[William Maley]

Many people were hoping that Ford would bring the new Raptor Ranger to the U.S. It would offer the off-road performance and capability of the larger F-150 Raptor, but in a smaller and (hopefully) more affordable package. But that isn't going to be happening. Hermann Salenbauch, the vehicle line director for Ford Performance told journalists yesterday that the company has no plans to bring the Ranger Raptor to the U.S.

A key reason mentioned by Salenbauch is due to the high costs to make the Ranger Raptor legal to sell in the U.S. as the model is based on the global Ranger. We have to assume a key part would come from trying to either make the twin-turbo 2.0L diesel legal or finding a possible replacement.

But Autoblog notes there is another reason not mentioned by Salenbauch, pricing. Considering the base price of the F-150 Raptor is $52,855, we would guess the Ranger Raptor would be a few thousand dollars less taking into account the various changes that would be needed. For a number of buyers, spending a few extra thousand dollars to get a bigger and badder truck isn't that big of a problem. Plus, Ford is making a nice amount of profit on each Raptor sold - especially considering that Raptors sit on dealer lots for an average of 20 days. Why introduce a competitor that would make less money?

That isn't to say Ford isn't taking the Raptor Ranger off the table for the U.S. fully. Autoblog writes that "Salenbauch didn't say the Ranger Raptor would never come here, and he and other Ford executives said they're always listening to feedback and open to new models."

Source: Autoblog

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