Ford has been known to put together a helluva Skunk Works team from time to time to build special projects, insane production products, and things that haunt your dreams. It did so with the GT40s, the Shelby Cobras, the lunacy that was Group B rally, and plenty of other world-ending, European-beating machines.
Take that, Communists!
I mean, just take a look at Ford's latest special projects in the Mustang GTD, the Raptor R, and the last GT that was basically a Le Mans racecar with a license plate attached to the back. Man, I still remember hitting the suspension switch on that supercar and it dropping to the pavement. And those are the things you and I can drive and buy. Let's not forget stuff like the all-electric Supervan or the Baja-crunching Raptor trophy trucks. The latter of which I want to talk about today.
See, recently, Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, spoke about his want for a "supercar for gravel, high-speed sand, dirt," which some have taken to mean that Ford's looking to build a side-by-side ala Kawasaki's new 250 horsepower Teryx H2, Can-Am's Maverick R, or Polaris' RZR Pro R, i.e. machines built to conquer the sand. But if Ford's history is anything to be believed, inasmuch as you can look at its racing machines to inform its customer offerings, what Farley is actually talking about is more akin to a trophy truck than a UTV.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
Farley's comments come from Bloomberg's "Hot Pursuit" podcast, which our friends at ATV.com pointed out last week. In the episode, Farley makes the case for something that can destroy the sand, dunes, and dirt in the same fashion as the company's new Mustang GTD, a street-legal racecar that'll set you back a cool $325,000.
"No one’s ever built a supercar for gravel, high-speed sand, dirt. I’m thinking really deeply about it and usually that turns into something," said Farely, adding that he's tasked his engineers to design something along the lines of "a 1000-horsepower, partially electric, totally digitally enabled" machine to do just that. One that would enable Ford to "win Dakar", as well as for the company "to build a vehicle so that all people could experience what it’s like to have the joy of driving no matter what is in front of you."
Now, if we're looking at Ford's history, and we absolutely should be, racing shows us what's next on its special edition vehicles, the latest being the Mustang GTD, which was preceded by Ford's GT3 racer, the latter of which debuted a year before the production model. The same goes for the Ford GT, which debuted in race trim ahead of its customer-ready car.
So what could this mystery Ford off-roader be? Well, Ford just snagged a 3rd place finish at this year's Dakar with the Ford Raptor T1+, and that's pretty damned close to Farley's want for an overall Dakar win. Imagine a hybridized version of the Raptor T1+ with all of Ford's latest and greatest tech, something that'll debut maybe for next year's race, and coincide with something us mere mortals could potentially buy? It'll be eye-wateringly expensive, ala the Mustang GTD or Ford GT, but, theoretically, we could buy it. That'd be pretty damn cool, but it's most definitely not a side-by-side as we know it.
Whether or not it happens is anyone's guess. But if Ford wants to call it a side-by-side or UTV, I'll absolutely pretend it is just so I can drive it. Farley, give me a call if you do.
