Ford might launch the more powerful Ranger Raptor in India later in 2021 as a CBU product falling under the homologation rules
In the past few days, Ford Ranger has been in the news regularly. For a car never officially launched in India, it has surely garnered a lot of attention. This is because, a lot of them have been spied off late. Plus now there are reports which state that India launch is next year.
In all this, the pickup has been spotted once again. This time by automotive enthusiast Naralokaviran, who shared the images on Rushlane Spylane Facebook Group. These were spotted the pickup while it was being transported in a flatbed in a partly assembled form. The spy shots were clicked near Salem in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, the Ranger was spotted in Coimbatore.
There were as many nine trucks carrying two pick-up trucks each. From the images it is clearly visible that the vehicles were brand new, however, none of them had their rear loading bay attached to the body. Even doors and bumpers are not installed.
It is likely that the pickup is heading to the Ford plant or the Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai. Ford exists in India as part of a JV with Mahindra. The latter owns 51% stake in this JV and gets to call all the shots on behalf of the former.
Powertrain Specs
As far as performance is considered, it is likely to be powered by a 2.0-litre twin-turbo Ecoboost diesel engine which cranks out 210 bhp and 500 Nm of peak torque. It sends power to all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic unit. The 4×4 drivetrain comes with a low-range gearbox as standard. It is offered with 6 modes within a Terrain Management System which include Normal, Grass / Gravel / Snow, Mud / Sand, Sport, Rock and Baja.
Dynamics
Ford Ranger shares its underpinnings with Endeavour which is internationally retailed as Everest and is built on the same ladder on frame chassis as the SUV. In Raptor, the chassis is further strengthened along with its front suspension setup. Raptor is equipped with Fox 2.5-inch off-road racing coil-overs which offer 30 percent more travel than the one in the regular model thus proving to be a much capable off-roader. It is rumoured that the American company will launch the iconic pickup truck in India in the second half of 2021.
Pickup Truck Market In India
Even though pickup trucks never managed to penetrate into the Indian passenger vehicle market they have been gathering interest off-late. Pickup trucks, especially in western markets, form a sizable portion of passenger vehicle market since they are the perfect utility vehicles for lifestyle adventures and weekend campings. In India, most of the options are limited to commercial vehicle segments barring one or two.
Ford is looking to import a limited number of Ranger Raptor pickup trucks as Completely Built Units (CBU) via homologation-free route. The model spotted earlier was the standard Ranger but the Raptor is a completely different beast altogether.
