Photo: Ashleigh Heath on Instagram
July 13th is when the Jeep Wrangler will finally receive the competitor it deserves, the all-new Ford Bronco. This fellow here, however, looks far from a production-ready vehicle.
Not only does it feature camouflage on the body panels and removable top, but the antenna sticking out of the passenger’s side mirror is intriguing indeed. The most shocking detail is the front bumper – or the lack of it, replaced by a Mad Max-like piece of metal.
“Look what we found,” wrote Ashleigh Heath on Instagram. The photograph she snapped at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan also reveals a Ranger pickup truck in the background and T/A KO2 all-terrain tires on the Bronco. You know, the same type of rubber shoes the F-150 Raptor gets as standard for supreme off-road capability.
The light-duty dune basher features 315/70 R17 tires and serious hardware for rock crawling, but don’t think for a moment that Ford has gone vanilla with the revival of the Bronco. Long coil springs with remote reservoir shocks are pretty much confirmed, as are the front and rear lockers along with a crawler gear for the seven-speed manual.
As you may know by now, the 2.3-liter EcoBoost from the Ranger and the 10-speed automatic transmission will also make the cut. Customers who want two more cylinders will be able to choose between a 2.7- and a 3.0-liter engine, both from the EcoBoost family.
Indirectly confirmed by a Dana employee, the 2.7 may mirror the output ratings in the F-150 and Edge ST while the 3.0 could be a plug-in hybrid. In the Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring, the larger engine produces close to 500 horsepower and tons of torque.
Something that may sound surprising to you is that the Bronco won’t be offered in Europe, and neither will the Bronco Sport. If you take a look at Jeep sales figures in the Old Continent, it’s easy to understand why Ford didn’t want to import these babies to the EU.
Ford of Europe also happens to be making some serious cuts in order to break even. Around this time a year ago, the Blue Oval announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs across the EU by the end of 2020 to strengthen the business. Five plant closures are also planned.
“Look what we found,” wrote Ashleigh Heath on Instagram. The photograph she snapped at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan also reveals a Ranger pickup truck in the background and T/A KO2 all-terrain tires on the Bronco. You know, the same type of rubber shoes the F-150 Raptor gets as standard for supreme off-road capability.
The light-duty dune basher features 315/70 R17 tires and serious hardware for rock crawling, but don’t think for a moment that Ford has gone vanilla with the revival of the Bronco. Long coil springs with remote reservoir shocks are pretty much confirmed, as are the front and rear lockers along with a crawler gear for the seven-speed manual.
As you may know by now, the 2.3-liter EcoBoost from the Ranger and the 10-speed automatic transmission will also make the cut. Customers who want two more cylinders will be able to choose between a 2.7- and a 3.0-liter engine, both from the EcoBoost family.
Indirectly confirmed by a Dana employee, the 2.7 may mirror the output ratings in the F-150 and Edge ST while the 3.0 could be a plug-in hybrid. In the Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring, the larger engine produces close to 500 horsepower and tons of torque.
Something that may sound surprising to you is that the Bronco won’t be offered in Europe, and neither will the Bronco Sport. If you take a look at Jeep sales figures in the Old Continent, it’s easy to understand why Ford didn’t want to import these babies to the EU.
Ford of Europe also happens to be making some serious cuts in order to break even. Around this time a year ago, the Blue Oval announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs across the EU by the end of 2020 to strengthen the business. Five plant closures are also planned.
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