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SHOULD A 2021 FORD F-150 LIGHTNING SIT ACROSS FROM THE RAPTOR?

Even If It’s Electric?

Ford F-150 Lightning Raptor
Rendering by Oscar Vargus

The street performance muscle truck pretty much died out in the mid 2000s when the Dodge Ram SRT-10 and Ford F-150 Lighting took their final bow. But for fast truck lovers, a new breed emerged in the 2010s with the Ford F-150 Raptor, which took the speed of it’s predecessors but focused its attention off-road. Ram followed suit with the Hellcat powered TRX, and went on record saying they weren’t perusing a street truck to follow the SRT-10. Ford has given us a similar update on muscle trucks. But for those holding out hope, a rendering by Oscar Vargus, or @wb.artist20 on Instagram, gave us an idea of what a fourteenth generation F-150 Lightning could look like, and it could be a great sibling to the new F-150 Raptor.

The rendering is suitably based off a standard cab pickup, as that’s the format most street performance trucks followed in their heyday. The front gets an imposing look, but is void of any Ford badging, unlike the F-150 Raptor’s block lettering. Instead, this Ford F-150 gets a Lightning badge in the corner.

Moving down the side, the muscle truck’s fenders have been enlarged to support a wider track, and allow the significant drop in ride height. The red wheels look great, but they don’t exactly scream Ford F-150 Lightning.

And other than that, there isn’t too much else to cover in the design department. Under the hood, however, there could be some interesting options if Ford did decide to bring back the street performance truck. It could mirror the F-150 Raptor’s 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6, which is expected to pump out at least 450 hp and gives some serious GMC Cyclone vibes. The Raptor will also get an R version next year that’s powered by the Predator V8, and that would make for one insane truck. The Coyote V8 is also a great option, tying into the most recent Lightning truck.

But if Ford were to make a modern day F-150 Lightning, there’s one powertrain choice that makes more sense than anything else: electricity. The current Ford F-150 will spawn an electric variant, rumored to be called the E-150 whenever it’s revealed. Ford has already teased us with photos of an electric pickup wearing some off-road parts, but they’ve also told us Raptor will stick to dino juice for this generation. This could be a perfect place for Ford to lean into their heritage and call a performance version of the electric F-150 or E-150 the Lighting, whether it’s got an on or off-road focus.

There are no indications this is happening, and engineers have even told MC&T that a modern F-150 Lightning doesn’t make much sense this day and age. But Ford does still hold the trademark to the Lightning name for trucks, and it was last renewed in 2018 with the USTPO. Feel free to use the idea Ford!

Ford F-150 SVT Lightning
2001 Ford SVT F-150 Lightning. Image via Ford.

Written by Sam Krahn

Sam graduated with a communications Degree from Wayne State University, where he was also a member of the swim team. He's interested to see how new technology will affect the American performance vehicle landscape.

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  1. I winder if this were real would they put a hybrid powerplant like the Powerboost or would they but a TT V6 or Supercharged V8

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