Ford is still hard at work on a production version of its wild Mustang-engined Raptor purpose-built off-road racer, which company CEO Jim Farley told media in Melbourne will “break all the rules”.
Speaking to media at the 2026 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, Mr Farley pointed to a showroom version of the vehicle to spearhead the company’s performance future – with timing and further details yet to come.
“I don’t want to go too much into it, other than to say Kumar [Galhotra, Ford chief operating officer] and the team really understand the invisible line between off-road and on-road supercars is blurring,” he told media, including CarExpert.
“And with partially electric powertrains and digitally controlled damping – and torque vectoring technology – you can now imagine a digitally enabled super vehicle that is equally capable off-road and on-road.
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“What the silhouette looks like, and all the details, we’ll continue to look at, but if there’s a company in the world that would break the rules and do something like that, I think it should be Ford.”
The Ford chief had previously mentioned the possibility of such a vehicle amid plans to create a Raptor sub-brand and position Ford as “the Porsche of off-road”.
In doing so, Mr Farley also ruled out a return of enthusiast models such as the Fiesta ST, Focus ST and Focus RS hot hatches as the company looks forward and “doesn’t want to copy the past”.
“In the forward world of technology and enthusiast, I don’t think customers need to make such difficult choices between fun off-road and fun on-road,” Mr Farley said.
“So, if we were going to do something like that, I would insist the team invent, maybe something of a new formula you haven’t seen yet.”
The company’s purpose-built racers could provide the basis for exactly that.
The wild Raptor T1+ took pride of place at the Ford stand at the Grand Prix, still splattered with mud and dust from racing, as the company returned to F1 with Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls teams in 2026.
The off-road racer was developed from the ground up for long-distance rallies – known as ‘rally raids’ – by British-based company M-Sport, Ford’s long-standing World Rally Championship partner.
It uses a dry-sump version of Ford’s 5.0-litre Coyote V8 engine – also used in competition Mustangs, including the Australian Supercars’ 5.4-litre V8 – and a six-speed sequential gearbox.
Its wild body uses lightweight carbon-fibre panels over a steel spaceframe to save weight but remain super-strong for off-roading.
The sophisticated chassis sees front and rear independent double-wishbone suspension and adjustable coil-overs allowing a significant 350mm of wheel travel, an approach angle of 70 degrees, and 400mm ground clearance.
Ford has just one Raptor model in Australian showrooms, though there are Raptor versions of the F-150 and Bronco available overseas.
The current Ranger Raptor V6 is a highly capable off-roader, with ‘long travel suspension’, an approach angle of 32 degrees, and 272mm of ground clearance.
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