Ford’s New Dirt Dominator Is the 2024 Ranger Raptor

Ford is finally bringing its Ranger Raptor to North America. Years after Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley promised that the new-generation Ranger would have a Raptor variant sold in the U.S. and Canada, the automaker confirmed the news with a reveal of its latest product.

The 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor is an upgraded, off-road capable version of the Ranger midsize pickup truck. It’s chock full of race-proven specialty equipment and gear.

Ranger Raptor follows in the Raptor family footsteps of the F-150 Raptor, F-150 Raptor R and Bronco Raptor, both of which are designed for off-road trials from rock crawling to dune jumping. It’s the most powerful and high-performance Ranger ever.

“Ranger customers want to mix work and play and Ranger Raptor gives them the opportunity to do just that with high-speed, off-road fun,” Gretchen Sauer, Ranger marketing manager told Newsweek.

Ford’s new truck features Ranger’s boxed frame, with reinforced rails, front shock towers, rear shock brackets and suspension mounting points.

Ranger Raptor is already sold globally, but it has been tuned differently for North American customers. “With the North American version the tuning focus was on re-optimizing for local market terrain (Borrego, Johnson Valley, broken concrete road surfaces, etc.), while maintaining the already high levels of capability and driver connectedness,” Christopher Dean, Ford vehicle dynamics senior engineer told Newsweek.

“Aspects of the North American [vehicle] damper development were subsequently rolled into the Baja 1000 stock class race truck, and proven out in Baja. Software controls were also re-optimized, with unique calibrations developed for the vehicle dynamics module (controls the dampers), and EPAS (steering) systems,” he said.

Its exterior has different features than a traditional Ranger. It includes LED headlights flanked by C-clamp signature lighting, with a similar set of lights at the rear. F-O-R-D lettering centers the grille, sitting above the steel bumper, which has frame-mounted front and rear tow hooks.

Fender flares feature functional vents and the truck’s front high-strength steel bash plate and various component shields are designed to keep the underbody’s components damage-free.

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