The world is waiting to hear about the upcoming Ford F-150 Raptor R after Ford announced it at the standard third-gen Raptor’s debut. It was only a matter of time before we would get glimpses of it, and that time has come. A video clip of the truck was uploaded to YouTube and you can see it in flesh wrapped in camouflage. While Ford managed to hide the design elements to an extent, they couldn’t keep the beast silent. You can hear the supercharged beast grunting here, and even at idle, it sounds so good. Can you at least release some audio clips of it, for the time being, Ford?

This Is Music To Ears

In this short video clip, you can’t hear much of it. It stands at a signal and then walks away slowly, but even then, you can hear the muscular burbles. The Raptor R was announced along with the standard Raptor and the only information given was that it will feature a V-8 engine. There are many speculations as to which Ford V-8 would be used to power it, but for now, it looks like the Mustang GT500’s Predator mill will be plonked in here. The supercharged engine won’t make 760 horses like the Mustang, but you can expect the Predator in Raptor to churn out around 725 ponies.

What Else Do We Know About The Raptor?

Officially, nothing else, but it will essentially be a standard Raptor with several performance tweaks. You can expect it to feature a reengineered, robust chassis and a stronger suspension system over the standard Raptor. It won’t look starkly different on the outside, but there will be more than enough changes to differentiate it from the standard Raptor. A lot of TRX-rivalling features will be present, too, in terms of tech specs, off-roading equipment, or even performance.

Ford’s Playing Chess While Ram Is Playing Checkers

Ford F-150 Raptor had a happy run for two generations. The sales numbers were ticking alright for the company with no serious threat to it. But then came the disruptor in the form of the Ram 1500 TRX. It was touted as the ‘Raptor-killer’, but the timing couldn’t have been any better for Ford. The F-150 Raptor was due for a generation change and we were sure it would come out all guns blazing. The company didn’t reveal the standard Raptor along with the fourteenth-gen F-150 back in June 2020, which clearly indicated Ford is coming up with a truck to take on the TRX, as expected. When Ford finally revealed it a few months later, it did not feature a V-8, which took a lot of people by surprise.

Instead, of a simple counterattack, Ford decides to sandwich the 1500 TRX from both the sides. This would be in the form of the new Raptor and an upcoming model called the Raptor R. The new Raptor is a big improvement over the outgoing model, with stuff like a new exhaust system, big 37-inch tires, a new suspension system, amongst other things. Despite all this, it will most likely have a starting price lower than the Ram TRX’s $70,000 tag, making it a worthwhile alternative that has everything other than a V-8 mill.

People who don’t mind splurging big money can buy the Raptor R. A supercharged V-8 engine, higher power outputs, and a lot of changes to the suspension setup, exhaust system, off-road equipment, and all the other areas are expected here. There’s no way it will be priced cheaper than the TRX, but that will be its selling point. Instead of offering one TRX competitor to the market, Ford is offering two. There will be enough price difference between the Raptor and the Raptor R for them not to cannibalize into each other’s sales, but they will be priced on either side of the TRX which makes both of them a threat to the Ram truck.

Conclusion

This is just the beginning of spy shots and videos, and we can expect a plethora of them right up until the Raptor R’s launch in 2022. Ford wouldn’t mind it and will, in fact, be happy because of the hype such spies will create without putting in any marketing efforts.

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