Spy Shots—Best Look Yet at Bronco Mule

From SEMA:

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Caught testing in Dearborn, Michigan, the Bronco mule wears light camo over a cobbled-together Ranger T6 body. Recently, the Bronco has been seen testing with the Jeep Wrangler and Toyota 4Runner, but it has been a task to capture them all in one image since they’ve been leaving the proving grounds at different times.

The Bronco will have body-on-frame construction, and unlike the Ranger, will have a coil-spring solid axle in the front and back. According to sources, the Bronco will have Dana Spicer AdvanTEK axles with a Dana 33 up front and a Dana 44 for the rear. The axles will be assembled at a new facility in Toledo, Ohio, and is located right down the street from the Jeep Wrangler plant. For cost reasons, the F-Series’ aluminum construction will not make its way to the Ranger follow-up or the Bronco.

The Bronco is expected to share the Ranger’s 2.3L turbocharged four, paired to the new Ford/GM 10-speed automatic transmission. A hybrid powertrain is rumored to be part of the lineup as Ford goes all in on hybrid availability throughout its product portfolio.

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That teaser shot of it under the cover is the only thing keeping me interested, i feel like it will actually look like what we want but shitty suspension and shitty powertrain options.

I see that as the most likely outcome. I trust my buddy at Ford when he says it looks great which is what the dealers relayed as well when they were shown the new Bronco.
 
Ford did state at one point (almost 2 years ago now) that there will be two versions of the new Bronco, the implication being a 4-door and a 2-door version.

This is a vehicle that ships in a matter or months so it has already been fully tested for AT LEAST 1.5-2 years in its FINAL mechanical form so that mule pic may be an OLD mule being used to evaluate some narrow aspect like HVAC or such.

There is zero chance the final product, which is necessarily long-ago a done deal, looks anything like that cobbled-together POS mule.

As far as solid axles or IFS I've heard nothing specific. Have also heard no specifics on how Ford will position it -- that would give some good insight.

One thing makes me hopeful that it will be quite competent and that's the fact that Ford is holding it so close to the vest -- you'd think it was the 2020 GT500 or something -lol. There'd be no reason for that if it wasn't very special in one or more ways, whatever that may be.

Rock crawler? I doubt it. But it would be a waste of investment resources to attempt to break into the core 4x4/ORV market with a limp product, so it's either targeting another narrow segment (unlikely) or may surprise us all with how broadly competent it may really be.

It would be nice if it got Dana AdvanTEK 44s front and rear. We shall see.
 
If they aren't going directly for the Jeep Wrangler then what are they going for? Jeep has a huge market share with their vehicles and the Wrangler has essentially no serious competition at the moment. Historically the Bronco has been a good counter to the Wrangler and Ford knows this. Go to Moab and all you will see is built Wranglers and Broncos everywhere. Ford is probably keeping it a mystery because they dont want to give Jeep a chance to counter the Bronco before it hits the market.
 
If they aren't going directly for the Jeep Wrangler then what are they going for? Jeep has a huge market share with their vehicles and the Wrangler has essentially no serious competition at the moment. Historically the Bronco has been a good counter to the Wrangler and Ford knows this. Go to Moab and all you will see is built Wranglers and Broncos everywhere. Ford is probably keeping it a mystery because they dont want to give Jeep a chance to counter the Bronco before it hits the market.
What is there to counter? Sounds like the one that should be intrigued is Toyota since the Bronco is more of a 4Runner competitor and Toyota axed the FJ Cruiser.

May I remind you those Porta John's still go for damn near retail 10 years later. Dumb Toyota, freaking dumb.

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The Wrangler is a 'religious' market. I don't see Ford targeting it directly. Removeable doors? No. Water drainage? No. They will target it indirectly but not head-on, imo.

My guess it will be optionable to be as capable as the Wrangler off-road (2-dr) but will also target Cherokee and Grand Cherokee (4-dr) depending on packaging and what is released when.

I'd only be interested in the 2-dr version but one more civilized than Wrangler -- and I think that is the sweet spot Ford will aggressively target -- 'ruggedly civilized.'

In a way that is also the how the '60s Bronco related to the '60s Jeep and is, imo, why the classic Bronco was so successful.

Over the decades that followed the Bronco went through some twists and turns and the small Ranger-based variant was actually an excellent and maneuverable ORV (especially here in the NE) but that, unfortunately, dumbazz drivers managed to roll over on occasion and thereby draw more negative attention than Ford was willing to stomach.

That was when and why it became a chopped F150 -- not as maneuverable as prior gen but very stable, very capable and similar dimensionally to K-Blazer/Jimmy, and substantially larger than that era's Wrangler. Once again it was very successful.

Bronco's history just may give some insight into how Ford will position it once again.
 
It's like the Mustang and Corvette. They dont have much in common besides going fast but Chevy will never want the Mustang to ever be able to rival the Corvette, but Ford wants the Mustang to outperform it wherever it can.

Capability is one thing that the Bronco and Wrangler may never be equal on, but when it comes to sales, which is all they really care about, and how they appeal to the average consumer, they are definitely in competition. If you dont think people will be cross-shopping the two then you need to pay attention more.
 
IFS confirmed with what appears to be a post diff sway bar with actuated disconnect, similar to the Rubicon. To me they need to start comparing it to the 4runner now, instead of the Wrangler. It's still not a bad thing. I freaking loved my TRD Pro. A solid front axle is just way more capable for the hard core offroad fan.

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Someone working on the new Bronco reached out to a Classic Bronco historian and asked for photos of the 1966 Bronco being tested in Arizona in 1964. It sounds like the new Bronco is being tested at the same facility they used 55 years ago

Put these into google:

33° 42′ 23.02″ N, 112° 30′ 23.75″ W
33° 47' 50.0" N, 112° 29' 41.7" W
34° 52' 47.2" N, 114° 07' 51.9" W
 

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