Ford wants to build Raptor T1+ supercar, declaring off-roaders have overtaken Mustang and hot-hatches as its most important performance vehicles

Ford plans to create a avenue-going model of its Raptor T1+ Dakar Rally car as it pursues an ambition to become the Porsche of the off-avenue world.

The T1 is billed as the firm’s “final Raptor”, with the aim-built V8, carbonfibre, metallic-tube-chassis racer achieving a double podium and six stage wins on the 2026 model of the arena’s toughest off-avenue trot.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, who’s visiting Australia this week for the F1 debut of its technical partnership with Red Bull Racing, confirmed it needed to construct a flagship for its Raptor family of off-avenue efficiency autos.

“I don’t want to head into [details of the T1+ production car] too worthy, different than to whine [we] ticket that the invisible line between off-avenue and on-avenue supercars is blurring,” Farley instructed Australian media, including Chasing Automobiles.

“And with partially electrical powertrains and digitally controlled damping and torque vectoring, you would possibly perhaps perhaps perhaps now factor in a digitally enabled trim car that on avenue and off avenue is equally succesful.

“What the [vehicle] silhouette appears to be like to be like adore, and the entire details, we’ll proceed to peek at. Nonetheless if there’s a firm on the earth that would possibly break the foundations and enact something adore that, I ponder it needs to be Ford.

“[Our] F1 [involvement with Red Bull] is final of that promise to compete all over the arena in opposition to the true and brightest in skills. And our dedication is to take that and, I wouldn’t divulge [apply our learnings to our] avenue autos, because definitely the biggest efficiency autos at Ford are off-avenue autos.

“There isn’t very any such thing as a Porsche off-avenue.”

Porsche has dabbled handiest recently with one off-avenue sports actions car, within the affect of its 911 Dakar that used to be additionally impressed by its lengthy history within the gruelling desolate tract trot. Lamborghini created something an identical with its Huracan Sterrato.

Whereas Ford appears to be like to be like to amplify its family of Raptor autos that on the moment consist of efficiency versions of the F-150, Bronco and Ranger – with handiest the latter sold in Australia – Farley acknowledged the map forward for the Mustang muscle car used to be stable.

He insisted there would continually be a Mustang in Ford’s line-up while he used to be on the firm, adding that a ‘V8 Mustang manual’ would must be prised out of the firm’s “cold ineffective body”.

There has been speculation, on the opposite hand, that Ford would possibly perhaps perhaps create a high-driving, Raptor-style model of its infamous sports actions car.

Ford Performance’s off-avenue focal level map disappointing news for fans of the firm’s vital hot-hatches, reminiscent of the Fiesta ST and Focal level RS.

It has made Ford efficiency autos much less doubtless for fanatics, with the Mustang starting from $72,990 (or $84,990 in V8 affect) and the Ranger Raptor costing $90,690 in Australia.

Farley confirmed Ford had no intention to bring help hot-hatches but wired the firm wasn’t planning to brush aside fanatic consumers with smaller budgets.

“We are very dedicated to cheap efficiency,” acknowledged Farley. “It’s the DNA of the firm. It’s a democratisation promise that Henry Ford made, but please quiz us now to now not phone it in or to replica the previous. What we salvage motivated on is doing something new that’s larger and different.

“I focus on this lots [with my team]. I ponder the map we ponder about taking a come all over forward to bring that cheap fanatic product to life would possibly perhaps perhaps perhaps be extra of a mashup between on-avenue and off-avenue.

I ponder the Fiestas and the Focuses, and the entire products that all of us grew up with – the Sierra 500s, the Falcon Coupes, all these powerful autos…

“Nonetheless we peek forward. We don’t want to operate within the previous. And within the forward world of car skills and fanatic driving, I don’t ponder prospects must make such advanced choices between fun off avenue and fun on avenue.

“So if we’re going to enact something adore [a modern Fiesta ST or Focus RS], I would tell the team create presumably something of a new components that you haven’t considered yet.”