Almost, but not quite.
The SVT Lightning was a vehicle that existed in the 1990s, prior to the reigning Ford Raptor over the past decade. Fans loved the fast ninth and tenth generation Ford F-150. This was all due to Blue Oval’s Special Vehicle Team.
The SVT Lightning had a 5.4-liter V8 with 360 horsepower (268 kilowatts) & 325 lb-ft (344 Newton-meters) of torque in the latest version.
Did you know that the Lightning almost had an SUV sibling based on its first-generation?
Ford Expedition The Thunder?
The Thunder was meant to be the practical, more practical version to the Lightning. However, it didn’t happen to be like the GMC Typhoon to the. Why? Why?
The SVT Thunder was a Lightning with three rows. Coletti and his team built a prototype in 2000, by incorporating the supercharged V8 engine and Lightning platform into the Expedition.
It was as expected. The Expedition was able to sprint from 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds. This was almost 4 seconds faster than the regular Expedition. Fast SUVs are not a new concept with the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat all around. However, the SVT Thunder would have been an inspiration for what these SUVs offer today.
SVT was not able to control the timing of its launch. In 2000, the first-generation Expedition had only two years remaining in its life span. The second-generation model was launched in 2002. Therefore, it would have been wasteful to introduce a special nameplate.
Coletti and his SVT team have only built one prototype to this day. We find it a bit disappointing, but it is what is.