1998 Ford Ranger Standard Cab Pickup 2-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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V8-powered 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor R spied testing alongside Ram TRX

Spy photographers captured Ford engineers testing what appears to be a 2022 F-150 Raptor R alongside a Ram TRX this week, giving us a sneak preview of the first major battle in the coming war for super-pickup dominance.  Ford has remained tight-lipped about the Raptor R's performance specs. We know only that it will be powered by a V8 (likely a variant of the 760-horsepower, supercharged 5.2-liter unit from the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500), and that it's due to break cover some time later this year. Given that the 702-horsepower Ram TRX will be the Raptor R's only competition (and pretty much the only reason it exists in the first place), Ford's decision to benchmark the fast Ram is a bit of a no-brainer.  The Blue Oval's performance engineers have years of practice when it comes to building high-performance off-road trucks, so despite Ram's first-strike advantage and Hellcat trump card, the TRX might actually be the underdog in this fight. Why? Well, based on what we've seen of the EcoBoost-powered 2021 Raptor so far, it should weigh at least 500-600 pounds less than the TRX, and while we expect that gap to shrink with the addition of the bigger engine, it's likely that it will still favor Ford, and perhaps significantly.  While the larger, supercharged V8 will certainly weigh more than the EcoBoost V6, it's still an all-aluminum engine (all SRT motors are based on cast-iron blocks) and Ford still has the advantage of its lightweight body panels. There will likely be more to the Raptor R's chassis modifications than a new set of engine mounting points, since the existing Raptor was not engineered to handle an 800-horsepower engine, but even with the chassis modifications necessary to handle that power, we expect the Raptor R to be the featherweight of the two.  Since Ford plans to get the Raptor R into production for the 2022 model year, we shouldn't have to wait much longer to find out just exactly how it shapes up against Ram's big dinosaur. Stay tuned. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Ford predicts it will finish 2013 as top-selling US brand

Ford is ready to call the ball on its 2013 sales totals, predicting a first-place finish for units sold in the US for a single brand. The company anticipates selling more than 2.4 million vehicles when all vehicle sales over the last 12 months have been tallied, repeating the victory it trumpeted over Toyota last year.
According to Ford's accounting, it sold 329,677 more vehicles than did Toyota in 2012. This year, the Blue Oval expects that margin to grow; through the end of November, Ford says it has outsold Toyota by 396,041 units.
Retail sales of Ford products are projected to exceed 1.7 million units for 2013 (the best retail result in 6 years for the company), with passenger cars accounting for 600k of that total. The redesigned Fusion is expected to crest the 290k mark, and the Fiesta is said to be ready to hit a model-record of 70k-plus. Meanwhile, utility vehicles and trucks are still paying a lot of bills in Dearborn, with the new Escape racking up an expected 300k sales and F-Series trucks chugging along at 688,810 units sold thru November.

Scandal-rocked UAW extends Ford, FCA contracts, prepares to strike GM

DETROIT — Leaders of the United Auto Workers union have extended contracts with Ford and Fiat Chrysler indefinitely, but the pact with General Motors is still set to expire Saturday night. The move puts added pressure on bargainers for both sides as they approach the contract deadline and the union starts to make preparations for a strike. The contract extension was confirmed Friday by UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg, who declined further comment on the talks. The union has picked GM as the target company, meaning it is the focus of bargaining and would be the first company to face a walkout. GMÂ’s contract with the union is scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. Saturday. ItÂ’s possible that the four-year GM contract also could be extended or a deal could be reached, but itÂ’s more likely that 49,200 UAW members could walk out of GM plants as early as Sunday because union and company demands are so far apart. Picket line schedules already have been posted near the entrance to one local UAW office in Detroit. Art Wheaton, an auto industry expert at the Worker Institute at Cornell University, expects the GM contract to be extended for a time, but he says the gulf between both sides is wide. “GM is looking through the windshield ahead, and it looks like nothing but land mines,” he said of a possible recession, trade disputes and the expense of developing electric and autonomous vehicles. “I think thereÂ’s really going to be a big problem down the road in matching the expectations of the union and the willingness of General Motors to be able to give the membership what it wants.” Plant-level union leaders from all over the country will be in Detroit on Sunday to talk about the next steps, and after that, the union likely will make an announcement. But leaders are likely to face questions about an expanding federal corruption probe that snared a top official on Thursday. Vance Pearson, head of a regional office based near St. Louis, was charged with corruption in an alleged scheme to embezzle union money and spend cash on premium booze, golf clubs, cigars and swanky stays in California. ItÂ’s the same region that UAW President Gary Jones led before taking the unionÂ’s top office last year. Jones and other union executives met privately at a hotel at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Friday. After the meeting broke up, JonesÂ’ driver and others physically blocked an AP reporter from trying to approach him to ask questions.