The Ford F-150 Raptor has been launched on the Chinese car market, marking the first time that Ford officially sells the big pickup truck in China. It comes only in crew-cab and there are only two high-end trim-levels available. Price starts at 499.800 yuan and ends at 548.800 yuan ($72.380-79.477).

In the U.S. the Raptor starts around $50.000. The difference is caused by high import taxes, consumption taxes, and some good old corporate greed. Still, it is much less than it costs on the gray market where a Raptor goes for some 700,000 yuan. But it is not just the price that matters; the officially imported cars will have a full factory warranty and support, which was always a problem with gray-import cars.

Coincidentally I found just such a gray import car last week in a car shop in Beijing. Interestingly this is a Mexico-spec car with the Lobo name tag. Never seen that before. Most gray imports I have met so far came from California. This is going to be a very hard sell now that Ford sells the Raptor officially.

The China-spec Raptor is powered by the 3.5 liter turbocharged Ecoboost V6. Power is rated at 415hp (421ps) and 678nm. Gearbox is a ten-speed automatic.

Last month I met a China-spec Raptor in Jinan where I had the time to check on the differences between the U.S. spec and the China-spec car. Here they are:

1. the small lights in the top of the grille have been blanked-out with black plastic.
1a. the small lights on the front end of the wheel arches have been blanked-out with black plastic.
2. the main-beam LED head lights have been replaced by halogen lights.
3. it has day-time running lights on the roof; two white ones facing to the front and two red ones facing to the rear.
4. the small lights under the main rear-light units are have been blanked-out with black plastic.
5. it has reflective 3M tape around the bed. This is obligatory for all pickup trucks in China, no matter how they are used.
6. the total-allowed weight (car plus max load) and height of the bed are printed on the passenger door. This too is obligatory.
7. the divider in the bed is fixed in position, it cannot be moved like on the U.S. version.

No lights above the grille.

Main headlight.

Light on arch covered with plastic.

White day-time running light, facing to the front.

Red day-time running light, facing to the rear.

Back for a sec to the Mexican-spec car. Grey-import cars also have to comply with Chinese law. This has been solved here by duc-taping the obligatory lights on the roof.

Reflective 3M tape around the bed.

The immovable divider.

Small lights under the main rear-light units, blanked-out with black plastic.

Total-allowed weight (car plus max load) and height of the bed.

No changes inside. This particular example was fitted with black leather bucket seats, a smoker’s pack, and, obviously, with a metric speedometer. The infotainment system is in Chinese.

The interior of the red car.

Spec sheet. See on the right, middle-low. “Export only CH”, CH stands for China.

No plans for local production for the raptor but the smaller Ranger will be made in China.

The Raptor has finally arrived.