Despite spy shots of it testing in Detroit, Ford is adamant the new Ranger Raptor is not coming to the US. Ford says the Ranger Raptor was mainly designed to offer off-road performance in markets where the full-size F-150 Raptor isn't available. We knew the likelihood of receiving the Range Raptor with its 2.0-liter twin-turbo diesel engine in the US was low, though we held out some hope Ford may swap it out for a gasoline-powered EcoBoost engine.

Our hopes for a US-spec Ranger Raptor were all but quashed, though a new report from Road & Track has reinvigorated our excitement with claims that the smaller Raptor may still arrive in the US after all. We sure hope these rumors turn out to be true because we can't take any more heartbreak.

You see, even though the new Ranger is just arriving in the US, it has been produced in other parts of the world since 2011, meaning it was simply too far into its life cycle to justify reengineering the Raptor model for the US market. The current Ranger uses the internal code designation P375, though a new generation model will arrive in 2022 with the code P703. This P703 Ranger is rumored to include a US-bound Raptor version.

According to details posted on the social media accounts of Ford engineers, this new Ranger will share much of its platform and design with the upcoming Bronco. One of these engineers also worked on the US-spec Ranger, which uses the code P375N, as well as the current P375 Ranger Raptor for other markets.

More social media profiles and sources inside of Ford say the next generation Ranger Raptor goes by "Project Redback" internally, which was the same project name used for the current P375 Ranger Raptor. The next-generation Ranger's connection to the Bronco could also point towards a Bronco Raptor, which would be a dream come true. No details are currently confirmed regarding drivetrains for the next-generation Ranger or Bronco, though we should know more when the new Ranger arrives in 2022.