2024 Ford F-150 Raptor: Planned for PH launch soon?
Is the Ranger Raptor's big bro coming to town?
When Ford Philippines first launched the Ranger Raptor in 2018, there were many doubters. The question revolved around whether Filipino customers would accept a more performance-tuned version of the Ranger at a more premium price tag.
The answer was a resounding yes. Up until Ford launched the current Ranger Raptor based on the new and improved “T6.2” platform, the Raptor variant accounted for about 40% of Ranger sales here. And while there are no official estimates or numbers yet, judging solely by the variants we see on the road we can say that the new one is still very much popular despite the significant price jump to PHP 2.339 million.
The success of the model is perhaps what is driving this next bit of news we learned of just recently. It seems Ford is evaluating another Raptor for the Philippine market for an official launch.
Yes, it’s the F-150 Raptor.
Some of us have seen examples of the previous two generations of the North American-spec Ford F-150 Raptor on the road. There may have even been some times when we spotted legitimate third-generation F-150 Raptors (not Rangers dressed up with F-150 Raptor kits). All these units, however, are gray market imports.
While Ford Philippines has already had the F-150 in its lineup since late 2021, they never officially offered the “hero” variant of the F-150 via dealers. That is set to be corrected, based on the info we got from our contacts.
The planned launch is sometime this year. We were told that Ford was looking at a “ber” month launch for the model, so that means sometime in September, October, November, or December. If we were to place a bet, we would probably look at October.
The F-150 Raptor is the originator of the Raptor name from Ford and was first launched in the USA in 2009 as the SVT Raptor (SVT meaning Special Vehicle Team). The current F-150 Raptor is the third generation and has many off-road enhancements befitting a Raptor. It comes with large diameter Fox Racing shocks with the Live Valve feature, chunkier all-terrain tires, a full coil spring set up with a 5-link rear, a 10-speed automatic with four-wheel drive, advanced terrain modes and a 450 horsepower twin-turbo 3.5L V6 gasoline engine. There is also a Raptor R with a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 with 700 horsepower, but we don’t think that will be the variant for the Philippines.
Of course, this is all subject to change as there has been an instance when Ford did change its mind. Ford Philippines had planned for the Ford GT and even went so far as to establish a microsite where legitimate customers can show their interest. Despite the interest and willingness of a select few, Ford didn’t push through with it.
Hopefully, that isn’t the case with the F-150 Raptor because we are quite sure there will be a lot of customers that would want that truck. That all depends on what the SRP will be, of course.
