Ford says it’s getting more orders for its F-150 SVT Raptor off-road pickup than it expected — about 5,300 so far.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the popularity of the F-150 SVT Raptor,” said Mark Grueber, F-150 marketing manager. “Orders have exceeded our expectations.”
And why is it so pleased? Because a Raptor costs $38,020, or about $16,000 more than the base F-150, which goes for $21,820. The model, and its popularity, are a throwback to Detroit’s golden age of high-profit truck-selling a decade ago. The profit margins are much healthier than those for cars. The truck’s gas mileage should conjure some nostalgia as well, 14 miles in the city and 18 on the highway.
“The truck is so popular that we actually wound up building more 5.4-liter V-8 models than we had originally anticipated. The order banks are now open for the all-new 6.2-liter V-8, and the orders keep rolling in,” Grueber adds.
Built alongside the best-selling F-150 at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant, the 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor was designed for the off-road performance market which has steadily grown in popularity over the past decade, Ford says.
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Raptor is powered by a 5.4-liter Triton V-8 engine, which delivers 320 horsepower. This spring, customers will have the added option of an all-new 6.2-liter V-8 engine, producing 411 horsepower. The orders are coming not just from off-road crazy Texas and the Southwest, but Tennessee, Michigan, Colorado, Ohio and Georgia.
About half of the orders for the truck are for black, followed by orange, white and blue.
winner of its 2010 4×4 of the Year award.
Each year the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) gives out accolades to vehicles in different classes, but none carry the quite the prestigious honor as the “Truck of Texas” title. For 2010 TAWA has awarded the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor as the “Truck of Texas,” making this the seventh year in a row that a Ford has won the top truck award.
Ford is promoting a modified version of its F-150 pickup truck, the 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor, in a full-length film that debuts on June 23. The automaker will show the film, “Raptor – Born in Baja” — produced for Ford by Brentwood Communications — at an event at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, Calif., for automotive and off-road motorsports executives, entertainment industry players, celebs and media. The documentary follows Ford designers, engineers and race program directors, aftermarket teams, and Baja race team Foutz Motorsports as they construct, test and race the F-150 SVT Raptor in the 631-mile Baja 1000 race.
