The Ram 1500 TRX served as the flagship to the brand’s performance lineup before it went extinct, though rumours of its resurrection have led Ford to get on the front foot.
At this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas, Ford unveiled a new range of performance parts for the F-150 Raptor R, its existing off-road performance hero, powered by a supercharged 5.2-litre V8.
While the regular engine used to produce 522kW and 875Nm when it had the TRX to go up against, the ‘Carnivore’ – get it? – was recently fettled to pump out 537kW and 868Nm, or slightly more power but less torque than the 531kW/881Nm Ram 1500.
However, Ford’s new performance parts see a larger 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger kit fitted, bumping its power output up to an eye-watering 671kW. Torque figures haven’t been released, though it’s expected to eclipse the standard Raptor R.
Additional upgrades include a Borla ‘extreme’ cat-back exhaust with black chrome tips, a gloss carbon fibre exterior appearance package, and a bonnet hinge-mounted light kit, an off-road driving light upgrade, and white underbody rock lights.
Ford has launched the performance parts-equipped F-150 Raptor R as a ‘project vehicle’, but like the Maverick 300T also revealed at SEMA, it’s clearly a near-production kit, with the supercharger packaged designed to be covered under warranty and legal in all 50 states.
“We wanted to create a blueprint for the ultimate factory-backed Raptor, combining immense power with the rugged capability that the name implies,” said executive director of Ford accessories and personalisation, Matt Simpson.
“This is for the enthusiast who looks at the F-150 Raptor R and says, ‘How can we take it further?’”
Unfortunately the F-150 Raptor R isn’t officially sold in Australia, nor is the base F-150 Raptor. Locally, only the F-150 XLT, Lariat and Platinum are offered, all of which are powered by a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 engine.
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