New Ford Bronco SUV leaked at a dealer event

Ford has been teasing its upcoming retro SUV, the Bronco, since quite some time. A first image of the upcoming production-spec Bronco has surfaced on the internet. The source claims the image was clicked at a dealer meeting held by Ford where the company showed a few visuals of its upcoming retro SUV.

For those who don't know, the Ford Bronco SUV has been an iconic off-roader that was on sale from 1966 to 1996. The company has revived the Bronco name with this new SUV, 22 years since the last car rolled off the production line. While the earlier Bronco range sat on a much larger platform that also spawned popular models like the Ford F-150, the upcoming Bronco will sit on smaller underpinnings that are also shared with the Ford Ranger pickup and the Ford Endeavour (Everest) SUV, which is also sold in India and many other markets.

The new Bronco is a five-door SUV and not a three-door model like its previous iterations. It flaunts a retro look with some stylish design cues that makes it stand out. Upfront, the round LED daytime running lamps are similar in design to the ones seen on the first-gen SUV that came out back in 1966. The grille has 'Ford' written on it, bang in the centre, which also looks to be illuminated on the new SUV. The model's side profile is boxy but has unique character lines and blackened bits to make it look attractive. The SUV gets a contrast white roof and has an upward kink on the shoulder line just aft of its C-pillar. While there are no pictures of the rear, one can get a glimpse of large vertical LED tail-lamps in the leaked image. The SUV gets black alloy wheels with chunky tyres and decent ground clearance for its off-road-ready nature. 

While there is no news on powertrain options, expect Ford to equip this new SUV with a 2.3-litre EcoBoost turbo-petrol mated to a 6-speed automatic, sending power to all four wheels. There are chances of a petrol-hybrid version as well. 

While there is no news of this SUV making its way to India, Ford is readying a mid-cycle update for the Endeavour, which will reach showrooms sometime next year. The company is also working on an all-new SUV that will share underpinnings with the next-gen Mahindra XUV500.

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