With very little in the way of details having emerged since February, a report from Australia over the weekend has alleged that Ford has slammed the brakes on the still-born Ranger Raptor V8.
Despite the Blue Oval’s Australian President, Kay Hart, confirming to carsales.com.au in said month that discussions about bringing the V8 to life had indeed taken place, Wheels Magazine now indicated that dwindling finances due to the Coronavirus has put the project on hold for the foreseeable future.
Reportedly, the drop in revenue attributed to the closing of numerous factories and resulting tumbling vehicle sales, has put the final sign-off needed to give the project the all-clear on the backburner, possibly for good if matters are unable to improve within the coming months.
Set to have been carried out by engineering firm Premcar, whose current involvement with Nissan has resulted in the off-road focused Navara N-Trek Warrior, the V8 would have seen the Raptor’s 2.0-litre bi-turbodiesel four-cylinder engine replaced by the 5.0-litre Coyote V8 from the Mustang GT, which long-time V8 Supercar partner, Tickford, has expressed interest in supercharging if confirmed for production.
The delay has however come as a second blow to Premcar who, apart from the Navara, was assigned by Yokohama to produce an N-Trek Warrior version of the facelift Patrol, which, according to carsguide.com.au, has also been put placed on hold due to COVID-19.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
