Raptor's V8 Heart Transplant

Ford answers calls for more grunt with plans for a mustang-spec bent-eight engineered in OZ

- Toby Hagon

The tough truck is about to get a big hit of American muscle. Ford is secretly readying a high performance Ranger super DS ute complete with V8 power.

The brand that sells more 4x4 utes than any other is gearing up to shift the goalposts of load-lugging performance by replacing the fourcylinder diesel engine fitted to the Ranger Raptor with a Mustang-spec 5.0-litre V8.

Rather than a global initiative, the top-secret V8 Raptor project has been sanctioned by Ford Australia and will be the result of a local engineering effort.

But instead of utilising the 1000-strong local workforce that helped create the T6 architecture that underpins the Ranger and Everest, the project is being farmed out to an external engineering firm.

The latest in a growing list of low-volume local engineering solutions — which include the upcoming Mustang R-Spec created by Herrod Performance and the just-released Nissan Navara Warrior by Premcar — will adhere to OEM durability and safety requirements and be sold through Ford dealers with full five-year warranty protection. elaborate process in play to turn regular Raptors into roaring V8 performance machines.