Spencedaddy

where is the market for high speed off road trucks? talk about a niche market, there are sports trucks, and there are offroad trucks......VERY few people do baja type stuff as far as i know..

is there really a market for this?

fairlane

Probably the same people who decided not to sell the focus rs turbo here decided to make the raptor

AlanSVT

They are pretty big on the west coast. So that might be there target area?

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2001 Ford Lightning Gone but not forgotten.
2010 Ford Shelby GT500.

ZZZZAP

I've been wondering this myself. There's been a huge outcry for a next gen Lightning so what do they do? They tease us with a new 500hp L and then scrap it. They tease us with a supercharged Adrenalin and then give it a regular run of the mill 4.6L. Now they build a....wait.....an Off Road Truck? Where in the hell did that come from? What happened to SVT? They should call it SORVT for Special Vehicle Off Road Team. Personally I think the engine is the only good thing about it.

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"Chuck Norris built my shortblock. It runs on the tears of small children and makes 10,000 hp. He said it's his 'street version' "

Spencedaddy

i think that turbo rs thing is BS as well...it seems like those across the pond get some of the cooler cars....

but west coast? as opposed to a nation? i've never even met anybody that does serious offroad....much less prerunning type stuff



could it possibly be lowered? and turned into a sport truck? or would that be pointless?

i didn't even know about the supercharged adrenalin...

i mean...i think that they will notice that these probably won't sell well, and drop this offroad crap..honestly....first gen lightning, amazing, second gen lightning amazing, third gen lightning, was a FANTASTIC idea, and then they scrap it? none of this marketing stuff adds up...maybe they looked at the percentage of lifted trucks in america to the amount of sport trucks, and just made a decision based on that..


do we all have a "fail" consensus for this truck?

thunder21

From what I hear there is a huge pre order list of these things at dealerships. From what most places are saying they are selling them as soon as they get them in.

I agree with you though. We need another lightning. Now would be the perfect time to do it. No one else is making a fast truck. Make another supercharged beast, slap a lightning emblem and you got an instant hit.

__________________
About my Lightning:
2003 Red Lightning
Build# 2212
Mods:
JLP Ram Air Intake
Thats it (For Now)

Sportruk

I have the feeling the Gen 3 died with the shelving of the F100. I don't think the 2009 F150 would have made a good Lightning. It's huge and heavy. That's one of the things that put's me off of the SRT10. Too big to be a good performance truck. Ford doesn't just stick a huge engine in a stock truck and call it good. SVT builds a complete package and I don't feel the current truck provides a good platform.
But it's perfect platform for the Raptor. Personally, I like it. It's a very well designed, rough terrain truck that works well on the road as well. We're not the only part of the niche market and Ford decided to go after the other half.
Hopefull they will get the F100 back on track and give us a real performer to live up to the Lightning past.

ibismojo

How about a perspective from a bean counter.....(well, I'm not sure if this would be a perspective from a bean counter but it's still one perspective):

Who's gonna buy a Lightning now? The current sports car market is saturated with well performing cars.....Camaro, GT500, SRT's, the Mustang once it gets the newer engine, EVO, WRX, 370z, used Z06's, M3's, even the Hyundai Genesis is trying to get a piece of the action.....competition is tough for a pick up truck that probably won't be much faster, if at all. Who does that leave.....Us? NLOC? Who here would actually go out and drop 40k on a sport truck right now.....maybe a few hundred at most?

Consider public perception as well....what will the general public think of Ford when they produced another gas guzzling sport truck in times when global warming is crammed down everyone's throat. They'll look at that and think, "wow, what a useless truck.....why the hell would you need a truck that can go fast....it's a truck, it's made for work and you can't take it off-road. Oh no, it's raining, garage it. What? Only holds maybe 3? Stupid." Sure car enthusiasts might get it, but they're so out numbered by those who aren't that it's a waste of breath trying to convince them otherwise. At least with a truck like the Raptor, it can go off-road, carry some kids in the back, it can be used as a truck, albeit one that can't do as much as a regular F150 could but still does as much as the Lightning and more than the SRT-10.

Also consider that a lot of the newer Lightning owners are Lightning owners because we were able to get them used (aka cheap), like myself. That's just looking at potential buyers looking for a performance car. Let's look at it from potential truck buyers as to performance car buyers. Ford's a little over half million sold a year on the F150's. How many of those 500,000 potential buyers are looking to buy a fast street truck? How many are looking for 4WD? How many are looking for extended cab. Would a person buying a regular cab consider getting an extended cab?

The Lightning corners itself for a buyer that's only looking for one thing, a fast truck...someone who'd buy a Lightning wouldn't buy any other kind of truck from Ford unless it was fast. How many fast trucks will Ford produce? Is it even cost effective to put money into developing more fast trucks when I'd imagine the majority of truck buyers buy trucks to do work (ie, tow or haul)?

Now consider the Raptor...........who is gonna compete with the Raptor....no one. And at 38k, it's just a few grand more than the FX4 for more capability and cheaper than the King Ranch.....I bet you could convince more potential F150 buyers to consider a Raptor over a sport truck. Plus, what's to stop someone into turning a Raptor into a drag truck? Nothing really. Even the majority of Lightning owners use their trucks for drag racing.....road course owners are the minority here...and that's one of major selling points of the Lightning, that it could handle fairly well.

I'm sure the sport truck will be back. But is there something wrong with the Gen 2's? Is it not fast enough? With the amount of aftermarket support, I would imagine that building up a Gen 2 that would be quicker than most sports cars out and would not be nearly as expensive as plopping down 40k for a new truck that'll probably on par with the competition.

Just like the old Rough Rider off road program that provided the performance DNA for cars like the Cobra R and Ford GT, looks like the Raptor R will be leading the way again with their testing of the Boss 6.2 Well, wasn't that a short post.

randy s

i agree 100% with every word you typed. the off road racing community out west is much bigger than some of you think and there's long been the desire for the factory to come up with something like the raptor. up until the past few years, ford has always been heavily involved in r and d with their rough rider team which were each sponsored by a different department within the company. alot of what goes into your lightnings is a direct result of what fords done with their desert racing program. it is, after all, by far the most demanding and difficult of all motorsports. that's why the big international manufacturers like vw, mitsubishi, and bmw and nissan invest millions in their dakar programs. to find out what works best for the customer in the broader picture. so you may not like it but it might just make your next ford better in the long run. by the way. i race a ford truck in the desert. and i still think the raptor is fugly [looks like a street truck to me. ja ja.]

Spencedaddy

its not that the gen 2's aren't fast enough, its just having a new body style to look at....i understand what you're saying, and there really isn't anything stopping you from dropping the truck and making it a sports truck...


i TOTALLY agree with the new trucks getting MASSIVE, the f100 would have been nice, but i think this truck has given itself to faliure, i would LOVE to see someone come on here having bought one, lowered it, and put a few mods on it, exhaust, intake, and so on....

that would make my day