This is Ford’s new baby Raptor

Earlier this year, we saw the new brand new Ford Ranger. We worked out that if you spec’d this baby F150 with options (Trac-Lok lockable diffs) and had an engine tune, you’d be left with a sorta-kinda 4/5ths-scale Raptor. No need for that anymore, as Ford has made a full-blown Raptor out of the Ranger anyway. Good news.

Unveiled in Thailand (where the rest of the world’s Rangers outside the US are built), the new baby Raptor has borrowed plenty of the angry, bloated bodywork and technology from its bigger brother to be an absolute beast on the rough stuff.

Just like the new Raptor, there’s no V8 under the bonnet. Boo. There’s not even a twin-turbo V6. Double boo. Instead, there’s an all-new twin-turbo 2.0-litre inline-four diesel with 210 horsepower and 369 lb ft of torque connected to Ford’s ten-speed ‘auto.

There’s no news on whether the US will get the Ranger Raptor yet. Considering that market gets a 2.3-litre four-pot EcoBoost turbo and ten-speed auto (basically a re-tuned Focus RS motor), if they do end up there and tweak that engine, you'll have a properly small Raptor.

All sorts of off-road goodies have been added to bat off whatever the planet throws at it. There’s beefy Fox Racing Shox dampers, longer Fox shocks, dent-resistant composite panels, an integrated tow bar with tow hooks, BF Goodrich All-Terrain tyres, Watts Link rear suspension and bigger (13 inches across) ventilated steel brakes. You also get the F-150 Raptor’s grille and all its clever off-roading terrain response modes.  

Then they’ve jacked the whole thing up. It stands at 1873mm tall, 2180mm wide and 5398mm long. Ground clearance has been boosted to 283mm, while the approach angle of 32.5°, ramp over angle of 24°, and departure angle of 24° are more than enough to scale whatever's in front of you.

It all sounds promising and gives the rest of the world a taste of Ford’s awesome off-road ability. But is there room for more than one Raptor model in this world? Let us know below.