Ford F-150 Raptor SVT spotted testing in Victoria

An eagle-eyed CarAdvice reader has snapped a Ford F-150 Raptor SVT in Victoria.

Khoder Ahmed captured the hulking left-hand-drive truck, which is an engineering evaluation vehicle belonging to Ford Australia.

Brand communications manager Neil McDonald said the 2011 F-150 Raptor was shipped to Australia more than two years ago to join Ford’s local engineering fleet.

McDonald was, however, quick to point out Ford has no plans to introduce the Raptor or any vehicles from the F-Series family to our market.

As one of Ford Motor Company’s global engineering hubs, Ford Australia imports a number of vehicles built for other markets around the world for testing, assessment and validation work.

The 2011 Ford F-150 Raptor was produced at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan, US. At 5603mm long, 2192mm wide and 1994mm tall, the 2.7-tonne pick-up towers over the Falcon XR6 Ute and previous-generation Ranger it is parked alongside.

Under the Raptor’s head-high bonnet sits a 6.2-litre V8 that produces 306kW of power at 5500rpm and 588Nm of torque at 4500rpm, and gives the four-wheel-drive F-150 a 2720kg towing capacity.

The current 12^th-generation Ford F-Series is now five years old, having launched in 2008. The all-new 13^th-generation F-Series is due in 2015, drawing inspiration from the Ford Atlas concept that debuted at January’s Detroit auto show.

While the new model will be influenced by the brand’s One Ford philosophy and offer a range of downsized, fuel-efficient EcoBoost engines, McDonald said Ford Australia views the Ranger as its flagship ute for the foreseeable future and has no intention to offer the next-generation F-Series.

Ford Australia last sold the F-250 and F-350 utes in Australia in 2006.