This is the kind of optional extra we like to see.
The Ford F-150 may be America’s most popular pickup for its practicality and capability, but now Ford Performance is making it even more attractive with the ‘FP700’ option. What is FP700? Well, it’s a 3.0-litre Whipple supercharger kit that makes any F-150 powered by a 5.0-litre V8 engine a high-performance beast. That’s because the ‘700’ in the option name refers to horsepower, with the supercharger boosting performance to more than 520kW in metric terms.
READ MORE: The Ford F-150 is coming to Australia
That puts the F-150 with FP700 package on par with RAM’s 1500 TRX – at least in terms of raw power. The FP700 package doesn’t add all of the other performance upgrades that RAM includes on the TRX, but Ford Performance is offering the supercharger with some extras in either a Black or Bronze Edition.
As the names suggest these additions are colour-coded, with the Black Edition adding 22-inch black wheels, black tailgate lettering and black side graphics. The Bronze Edition gets 22-inch bronze rims, bronze lettering and Ford Performance graphics.
Unfortunately, this package won’t be available to Australian customers when the F-150 arrives in local showrooms in July. That’s because the locally-converted F-150, XLT and Lariat models, will be powered by the V6 EcoBoost engine, with the V8 not available (at least initially).
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Not that the EcoBoost is a poor second choice, the twin-turbo V6 makes a very healthy 298kW of power and 678Nm of torque.
It won’t come cheap though, with the Australian F-150 range beginning at $106,950 for the short-wheelbase XLT and stretching to $140,945 for the Lariat long-wheelbase.
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