With no hint of subtlety whatsoever--save for actually mentioning the product in BIG, BOLD LETTERS, that is--it looks like
Ford Philippines will be launching the
updated Ford Ranger and, perhaps more importantly, the
highly-anticipated Ford Ranger Raptor very soon--a couple of weeks from now, to be exact,
specifically on September 21.
We say this because the American carmaker's local office recently sent to the media an invitation to an event, saying that
"the wait is finally over. Discover tough in its truest form" as it
"uncages a powerful duo that you’d surely want to conquer your next adventure with."
While the invitation doesn't specifically say what this "powerful duo" is, it did have this image on it:
As you can see, it's clearly a
Ford Ranger Raptor so shame on the media outlets who want readers to believe that
they're calling "predicting" its launch when even a blindfolded blind man with cataracts can clearly see that it's a Ranger Raptor.
As for what the other half of the said "duo" is, we assume it's the
updated Ford Ranger which was launched in Thailand--where it is manufactured and assembled, incidentally--in July. It's worth noting that the updated Ranger gets more than just the usual facelift and some new features. That's because while Ford has retained the 158 hp, 2.2-liter engine for the lower-spec variants, it has ditched the 197 hp, 3.2-liter mill of the Ranger Wildtrak and in its place is either--at least for the Thai market--a
2.2-liter turbo that's good for
178 hp and 420 Nm of torque or the
same 2.0-liter bi-turbo in the Ranger Raptor that puts ou
t 210 hp and 500 Nm of torque, both of which are paired to a
10-speed automatic transmission.
Ford Philippines
began accepting reservations for the Ford Ranger Raptor on August 2 so if you're one of the first customers to place one on that day, then you don't have to wait too long to get your hands on it.
