Ford has yet to make an Everest Raptor, though speculations have been around ever since the debut of the first-ever Ranger Raptor. Now that there's a new generation of the go-fast pickup truck, along with the revamped versions of the non-Raptor Everest and Ranger, those speculations are still up in the air.
Ford last year has neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of an Everest Raptor. In an interview with Motor1.com, global chief engineer of the T6 platform, Ian Foston, said that Ford could eventually make a production version if there were enough customer demand. Of note, a prototype version of an Everest Raptor was reportedly made in Australia last year but it never hit the production lines.
Our friends from Kolesa tries to imagine what that Everest Raptor could look like, reflecting the visual cues from the new production Ford Ranger Raptor. That means the fictional performance SUV gets the grille with the wordmark, wider body, bigger tires, and the Raptor decal at the rear.
If the Everest Raptor ever happens, it's more like to adopt the same 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 found in the Ranger Raptor, which generates 392 horsepower and 430 pound-feet (583 Newton-meters) of torque. It's worth noting that the Ranger Raptor in Europe has a significant power reduction due to stricter emissions regulations, producing just 288 hp and 362 lb-ft (491 Nm) of torque from the same twin-turbo V6.
As a side note, the Ranger Raptor has been confirmed for US and Canada by none other than Ford CEO Jim Farley himself, arriving this year.
The Everest has never been sold in Europe, so we don't expect that to change with the new SUV's body-on-frame design. If Ford chooses to "Raptorize" the Everest, it wouldn't be a challenging task since the Ranger, which shares a similar platform, has already been given the performance treatment. However, whether there is sufficient interest to create a financially feasible project remains to be seen.
