“Ford’s new 2015 F-150, which incorporates a number of advanced but costly powertrain, light-weighting and safety technologies, represents one of the most prominent early examples of this forthcoming change. We question whether consumers will pay the price for this content with $2-$3 gas,” Rod Lache, an analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

Here's the first official photo of the all-new Ford F-150 Raptor based on the latest generation of the firm's pickup truck with the alloy-intensive body.

Ford yanked the covers off its new F-150 Raptor that sports a twin-turbocharged V6 EcoBoost engine linked to an all-new 10-speed automatic at the Detroit motor show today.

The Blue Oval did not announce performance figures for the new 3.5-liter V6, but it said that it will deliver more horsepower and torque than current Raptor’s 411-horsepower, 434-lb.-ft. 6.2-liter V8.

Not only will the new F-150 Raptor have more oomph than the outgoing V8 model, but thanks to the latest generation F-150's aluminum body, it will also be more than 500 pounds lighter (+227 kg).

The Autoblog staff universally loves the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, and the truck's about to get even better. Coming in the fall of 2016 (we'd assume as a 2017 model), the next off-road-ready pickup from Ford will boast an all-new, purpose-built, high-strength steel frame and a lightweight aluminum body that saves more than 500 pounds when compared to the current Raptor. It's six inches wider overall than the regular 2015 F-150, which both makes it look awfully mean but also aids in stability when driving fast off the road, and new LED lighting elements make it stand out when the sun goes dim.

Under the Raptor's muscular hood will be a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine that will make more than the current 6.2-liter V8's 411 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque, though we don't have exact power figures for the next-gen Raptor quite yet. Also new will be a 10-speed automatic transmission, which will replace the current six-speed unit and ought to provide appropriate ratios for both rock crawling and high-speed desert trail running.

Speaking of high-speed running, what makes the Raptor tick, perhaps more than any other single component, are its custom-designed suspension bits. Redesigned, larger Fox Racing Shocks with more suspension travel and all-new terrain management technology, combined with BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires, are the bits and pieces that allow for Baja-style off-roading.

The four-wheel-drive system in the next-gen Raptor will include a Terrain Management with settings for Normal driving, Street driving, Weather mode (for rain, snow or ice), Mud and Sand, Baja mode and Rock mode. According to Ford, the Raptor's new transfer case is designed to work as both a locking unit for crawling and a full-time unit for other off-road applications. A Torsen front differential will be optional.

Basically, if all of this new stuff turns out to be as good in practice as it sounds in a press release, the next F-150 Raptor will only serve to separate Ford's off-road pickup even further from its half-hearted competitors. Feel free to watch the video and read more down below.

In one of his last shows as the cocky, right-wing-mocking talking head on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert made a gleeful, deliciously prescient point about Americans’ short attention spans for cheap gas: “Fuel is cheap this week? Give me a five-year lease on a rolling cargo ship with the aerodynamics of a cinder block!” The statement may have been sarcastic, but there couldn’t be a better climate into which Ford could introduce its second-generation F-150 Raptor.

Hulking on its off-road suspension, widened fenders, and meaty 35-inch tires, the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor is just as outrageously polar bear–mocking and lane-deflowering as its groundbreaking forebear, only now it swills cheap hooch. Not that such a detail matters; since being introduced in 2010, the roughly $50,000 Raptor has had buyers lining up even through the late stages of economic recession and four-buck-per-gallon gas. Naturally, we love the thing. Who wouldn’t, given its huge power, ability to bomb across craggy terrain at 100 mph, and bad-*** visuals?

BUILT ECO TOUGH

Happily, Ford stuck to the script for the new model—almost. There has been some paraphrasing in the engine bay, where, instead of the old truck’s 411-hp 6.2-liter V-8, sits a new twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine with direct fuel injection. While it shares a displacement figure with the larger of the two EcoBoost V-6s available in the regular F-150, the Raptor’s mill features a new aluminum block and upgraded internals, revised heads, and tweaked fuel-delivery equipment. Final output figures weren’t available at the time of this writing, but we’re told to count on 450 to 500 horsepower and more torque than the current V-8’s 434 lb-ft. As for fuel-economy estimates, Ford is likely to trumpet efficiency gains on account of the turbocharged engine, but horrible, ignorable fuel economy is part of the Raptor’s charm. We’ll file preliminary EPA estimates under “we don’t care.”

Of course, four-wheel drive will be standard, and the Raptor’s setup now includes a terrain-response function that optimizes the truck for varied surfaces such as snow, rocks, and more. Feeding the transfer case is Ford’s first application of its all-new 10-speed automatic transmission.

YOU CAN’T CRUSH THIS BEER CAN

The new powertrain is bolted to an equally new frame that, while derived from the 2015 F-150’s steel unit, is substantially upgraded to better handle the abuse doled out by full-throttle (sweet) jumps, huge rocks, and whatever else a Raptor can subjugate to its will. Two wheelbases and cab configurations will be offered: a 133-inch-wheelbase, extended-cab SuperCab and a 145-inch, four-door SuperCrew. Following in the F-150’s footsteps, the high-performance truck also switches to aluminum bodywork, shedding a claimed 500 or so pounds in the process. A composite hood and front fenders further reduce mass.

Ford’s stylists somehow managed to massage these fancy new materials in such a way as to imbue the Raptor’s rippling body with even more muscle. The slight upkick to the rear quarter-panels lends the tail a bad-*** stadium-truck look, and the grille once again boasts giant “Ford” lettering and federally mandated marker lights on account of the truck’s width. Colossal Ford lettering also makes it onto the Raptor’s tailgate, and there are vents on each front fender and another one on the hood, in addition to LED accent lighting everywhere.

The most important elements of all, however, are sheltered by the Raptor’s blistered fenders. Those would be the Fox Racing shocks, coil-sprung aluminum front control arms, and the leaf-sprung solid rear axle. To improve on the old Raptor’s impressive suspension travel—11.2 inches in front and 12.1 inches in the rear—Ford upped the Fox shocks’ diameters from 2.5 inches to 3.0. The units still feature internal bypasses that take the edge off of quick, hard impacts. Skid plates in front help protect against meet-and-greets with desert rubble, and shallower front and rear bumpers improve the truck’s approach and departure angles. New 17-inch aluminum wheels are wrapped in BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A K02 tires that practically scream out for raised white lettering.

IT KNOWS IT CAN FLY

Amazingly, another carry-over feature of the 2017 F-150 Raptor is its near complete lack of competition. Dodge offers the 1500-based Ram Runner, but it is available only in kit form through the Mopar catalog. General Motors never picked up the phone when Ford came calling in 2010, and it hasn’t since. Some credit is due to the Ford SVT engineers—who now toil under the Ford Performance banner, hence the absence of “SVT” in the new Raptor’s name—that designed such a product that worked nearly as well on the street as it did in the Baja.

Having sampled several iterations of the new F-150, we can report that the weight loss afforded by the switch to aluminum construction is palpable from behind the wheel. Yet for all that, this Raptor version is the one we’ve been waiting for. With the base price expected to stay around the $50,000 mark, it will continue to be within reach of anyone with desert-runner fantasies. So, yeah, Mr. Colbert? You can sign us up for one of these babies.