Ford New Zealand has pulled the covers off the first Ford Ranger Raptor to land in the country – the first time it has been seen anywhere in the world in the new Conquer Grey colour.
The vehicle is an early-build tool trial or TT version and last week was tested and filmed at Central Otago’s top off-road conditions.
The Raptor features unique suspension with Fox Racing shock absorbers, bulging guards specific to the model, sports seats and trim. It is powered by a 157kW 2-litre bi-turbo diesel engine and 10-speed automatic transmission.
Priced at $84,990, Ford’s light commercial marketing manager Jeremy Nash says signs are good it will add to the already popular Ranger’s sales tally.
“We’re calling a fairly ambitious mix for Raptor. Experience tells us that this is something that the market wants, that this is something that the market’s really for – it will create a lot of excitement,” Nash says. “I’d like to see 1,000 sales turn into 1,200 turn into 1,400.”
This year’s sales will be supply restricted.
“We’ve got 250 turning up before the end of the year. Of that, 100 are already pre-sold without us formally pushing for pre-orders, so those are just guys that we had on the books that we were able to confirm production slots for,” Nash explains.
Who will buy the Raptor. It is still to be seen if it will be traditional ute customers, or could compete against sports vehicles.
“It’s a really interesting question and something that we won’t see 100% until obviously the vehicle goes on sale,” Nash says. “I think there’s going to be a huge proportion of drivers that come out of XLT. We already know that drivers of our Ranger XLT’s are optioning the vehicles up with $10, $15, $20 thousand dollars worth of accessories so we know there’s capacity there.
“We also know that some of our XLT drivers are our most passionate.”
“I think it’s a really interesting insight around performance drivers and sports car drivers,” he says. “I think there will definitely be a few of these sitting in garages as toys.
“But as a lifestyle enabler, for the guys that are into motocross, for the guys that are into snow sports and water sports and those sorts of things, this represents someone’s interests and what they like to get out and do and I think it’ll fit really nicely with those sort of people.”
Watch the unveiling of the Raptor at the Auto Media Group Youtube channel.
