Ford CEO teases F-150 Rattler, promises more details March 29

Ford’s Jim Farley tweeted out a big teaser for an upcoming F-150 model, promising more details tomorrow, March 29.

Look out for this tomorrow. A rattler you'll be excited to see on the trail. #FordF150 Rattler ??? pic.twitter.com/l5fkOlEU4m

— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) March 28, 2022

So what is the new Rattler? As much as we’d appreciate a return to a street-oriented performance truck—remember those?—it seems that the market lately is focused on off-road trims (which we also love). The name, as well as Farley’s hint that we’d see it on the trail, suggests the latter is the direction Ford is headed with Rattler. While they’re found all over North, Central, and South America, rattlesnakes have a bit of a southwestern connotation and a desert-dwelling reptile at home in the sand could have easily lent its name to the current Raptor. The logo, with its italicized slant and acute angles at the top edge of each letter, fits nicely with the aggressive font used in the Raptor emblem. We especially like the integration of the rattle into the “A”. We could lose the snakeskin though, if they’re asking.

Where would a Rattler fit best in the FX4, Tremor, Raptor hierarchy of mild, medium, and spicy off-road trucks from Ford? How many powertrain or suspension changes would it take to make such a truck worthy of a unique moniker? Hopefully we won’t have long to wait until we find out answers to these questions, but in the meantime, it’s fun to speculate. So let’s get to it.

Perhaps this is Ford’s direct competition for the Ram TRX, the truck we’ve referred to thus far as the Raptor R. Maybe it’s a trail rig meant more for overlanding and low-speed crawling than Raptor, which is actually quite well suited to the task as it is. Could it be an off-road electric truck, combining the Lightning‘s powertrain with the Raptor suspension? If so, it might take quite a bit of unique rear suspension parts, as the Lightning uses an independent rear suspension with its axle-mounted motor. If that’s the case, this could be Ford’s answer to the GMC Hummer EV, one of the most exciting and polarizing electric vehicles around today.

What do you hope this so-called Rattler turns out to be? And what niche, off-road or otherwise, would you like to see F-150 tackle next?