What is believed to be the most anticipated SUV, the reincarnated Bronco will be co-developed together with the next-generation Ranger which is practically the base for Ford Bronco. A lot has been talked and speculated on this topic, but the latest slip from a US union official gave us confirmation that the Bronco, which hasn’t been produced for 20 years, will see the light of day again.
Thanks to some sources of the motoring.com.au, they informed us that Ford’s Victorian-based Asia-Pacific Product Development Center is currently knee deep into Bronco development which is supposed to be new-generation Jeep Wrangler’s direct competitor. Ford’s Aussie based design and engineering operation are also the origin ground of the new T6 ladder platform that carries Ford’s global Ranger. The T6 platform also underpins the Everest SUV, and this is important to know because a certain number of the heavily camouflaged Ranger and Everest vehicles are already testing in the company’s You Yang proving ground at Lara near Geelong (Vic). Most of these testing mules are just early engineering prototype versions of the next-generation Ranger, but the rest is used as early all-new Bronco mules. The reincarnated Bronco is supposed to follow Ranger into production in the USA around 2024, and both vehicles will be based on a refined version of the current Ranger/Everest T6 platform.
At this point the global faith of the Bronco is unknown. There are a lot of speculations around the possibility of it getting a right-hand drive model for markets beyond the USA, but as the world tendency toward SUV’s is growing there is no doubt that the new Bronco might as well be a global model already. If you remember, the original Bronco was based on the shortened F-Series ladder frame and in the spirit of that the 21st century, Bronco will be built on a short-wheelbase version of the revised T6 ladder frame and will most likely share plenty of the Ranger’s mechanical parts which is not that bad.
This all can translate to the engine department as well where the possible candidates are four and five-cylinder diesel units (and most likely a petrol V6 unit for the US market) attached to manual and automatic transmissions with a low-range transfer case, which would make it irresistible to the off-road enthusiasts. The external look of the new Bronco might closely resemble that of a 2014 Ford Troller T4 concept, which has already been introduced. The Blue Oval company is thinking of both two door and four door models, and if the tradition is followed the half-cab, roadster and wagon forms will be offered as well as back when Bronco was produced in Australia between 1981 and 1987. When tradition is in question, the all new Bronco will be built at Ford’s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne outside Detroit – the same plant where all five generations of the Bronco were built.
