Rumor: The Ford F-150 Raptor Is Getting the Mustang GT500's Supercharged V-8

[EricM]

Exactly. The problem is suppliers only know they are asked to beef up an F-150 component to withstand 700hp. They won't be told all the details of the project. The natural conclusion is this is for a supercharged Raptor. But it could just as easily be for a new Lightning. Or a light duty dump truck, or any anything else. Suppliers only get as much information as they need to know to do their job. Everything else is speculation.

True, or it could be the guys designing the front mount heat exchanger brackets got a 3D model of the front end that he was fitting it to. In that case they would know exactly what it's going into. A new Lightning would not have the wide front end or baja style bumper that the Raptor does.

 

[jaz13]

True, or it could be the guys designing the front mount heat exchanger brackets got a 3D model of the front end that he was fitting it to. In that case they would know exactly what it's going into. A new Lightning would not have the wide front end or baja style bumper that the Raptor does.

Or it could be that Ford is trying to simplify its supply chain beefing up F-150 parts so they can be used on every tuck up to an F-650.

Side note, if they make a new Lightning, I bet it will use the Raptor's flared fenders so it can fit extra wide street radials.

 

[LVsFINEST]

You announce good news. You leak bad news. Basic stuff for people who understand business and PR. They leaked rumors of a V6 Raptor so people were not disappointed when it was announced. But they withheld the 450hp and 510lb of torque for the official announcement because they wanted people talking about the HP, not the cylinder count when the Raptor was released. Apple did the same with the headphone jack. Leak the bad, announce the good. Business 101.

Sounds like you got it all figured out!

Just off the top of my head:

Get people excited, gauge interest and expectations, keep people from buying competing products, maybe even cause some panic at competitors.


And I don't even work in PR. Will it keep people from buying current Raptors? Maybe. But again, there's pros and cons. In this case Ford felt the pros outweighed the cons.

Those other leaks you mentioned were probably not deliberate. This one was, IMO.

 

[jabroni619]

You announce good news. You leak bad news. Basic stuff for people who understand business and PR. They leaked rumors of a V6 Raptor so people were not disappointed when it was announced. But they withheld the 450hp and 510lb of torque for the official announcement because they wanted people talking about the HP, not the cylinder count when the Raptor was released. Apple did the same with the headphone jack. Leak the bad, announce the good. Business 101.

I visit the MacRumors site periodically to get up to date on upcoming products and software updates. These reports are rarely directly from apple, their accuracy however is typically pretty good, and pretty much spot on as the release day nears. This applies to both good and bad news. Most of it is good news. I'm not sure where you're pulling this theory from, if not your own ass.

 

[jaz13]

Sounds like you got it all figured out!

Just off the top of my head:

Get people excited, gauge interest and expectations, keep people from buying competing products, maybe even cause some panic at competitors.


And I don't even work in PR. Will it keep people from buying current Raptors? Maybe. But again, there's pros and cons. In this case Ford felt the pros outweighed the cons.

Those other leaks you mentioned were probably not deliberate. This one was, IMO.

The two biggest reasons to keep a new product secret:

1) You don't want to smother sales of your current product
2) You want to give the competition as little time as possible to respond

Everyone thinks Ford is doing this because of the TRX. If Ram was smart, they would have kept this secret and surprised everyone. If they did that, Ram would have had 2 years of competition-free sales from the V8-or-die crowd before Ford could design and release a competitor. Instead, Ram gave Ford plenty of notice and lost a huge competitive advantage. At this point, there is a good chance Ford could even beat Ram to market.

Now in Ram's defense, they probably thought by announcing this big burly V8 so early, it would dampen Raptor sales. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and all they really did was give Ford plenty of time to engineer a response.

 

[EricM]

21 pages and 12000+ views already.

Yea, Ford should just stick with a turbo V6. Nobody is interested in a V8.

 

[jabroni619]

21 pages and 12000+ views already.

Yea, Ford should just stick with a turbo V6. Nobody is interested in a V8.

How many of those views is a group of 5 or so people arguing back and forth for the last 10 pages?

Not saying there isn't interest in a V8 Raptor, but perspective is important.

 

[RAPTERRIER]

And....another 'leak' for the TRX:

https://www.motor1.com/news/315797/new-details-ram-rebel-trx/

 

[Truckzor]

Dual Bilsteins. Interesting.

 

[RAPTERRIER]

Dual Bilsteins. Interesting.

Unless Ford shows us something concrete I'll be jumping ship. We know for certain the Ram will be making the TRX w/ a 6.2 Hellcat engine. At the very least it'll have 575hp but more than likely 707. Also with a newer 2019 chassis/body and interior improvements over Ford's F150 from 2015.

Ford may produce a Raptor with the SC'd 5.2 but it may still be in the current model. That would make it a swan song when the all new F150 comes out the year after. That scenario sucks.