When Ford announced the bold Ranger Raptor, it was a bittersweet occasion as we finally got the hard-core off-road ute that everyone was asking for, but it was missing the burly V8 that was associated with the Raptor badge.
With a few mods, the 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel power plant can be turned into quite the torque monster, but in stock form, is a lot more sluggish than its American-built F-150 sibling.
Rumours of a V8-powered Ranger Raptor were seemingly confirmed in a report earlier this year, with a 2021 release date attached. Naturally, Ford would use the 5.0-litre Coyote V8 out of the current Mustang GT.
The V8-powered Raptor is set to be developed in Australia, sanctioned by Ford Australia, with the majority of the work carried out by an "external engineering firm."
While this external firm still remains a mystery, Tickford may have just spilled the beans by talking about adding its supercharger to the 5.0-litre V8, as they do with the current Mustang GT.
According to a recent report out of Australia, Tickford said that it could install the Roush supercharger, pushing the V8's output up to an impressive 536kW and 818Nm of torque.
This would more than double the ute's current power output of 157kW, and overshadow the 500Nm torque figure.
"Let’s say a V8 Ranger authorized by Ford themselves through dealers does come out, we will no doubt have people coming to us saying ‘supercharge it," Andrew Philpott of Tickford said. "We’ve supercharged Mustangs of course, and we supercharged F-150s, so we’ve had people buy V8s purely with the intent of coming here, us putting a Roush supercharger on it. There will be people who say ‘absolutely, I want the best Ranger I can get, and if I can make it more power, why not?’"
Currently, Tickford charges around $19,000 for the supercharger kit, and if the V8 Raptor meets its estimated cost of $120,000, the whole package could be had for under $150,000.
While this is a hefty figure, it's still cheaper than what the right-hand drive converted American trucks retail for down here.