This Sure Looks Like a
Full-Size Ford Bronco Test Mule
A short-wheelbase prototype with F-150 Raptor bones. Is this the big, bad
Bronco of our dreams?
What do we have here? Some sort of Ford prototype of a vehicle that
definitely does not exist in production: A short-cab, short-bed F-150 in
Raptor guise. We have no idea what this test mule is, but it sure as hell
looks like a full-size Bronco.
Take a close look at what we've got here. This vehicle has the ultra-wide
track of the current F-150 Raptor, sporting factory-fit Raptor wheels and
tires. The structures we see behind those mocked-up front and rear bumpers
match what you see when you yank the bumpers off a Raptor—see this
aftermarket bumper installation guide for confirmation. But you can't buy
a Raptor, or any current F-150, with this short-cab, short-bed
configuration.
Our first thought upon seeing these spy photos was that this is some sort
of Ranger-based prototype, but that doesn't fit what we see. The current
Ranger has a track width of 61.4 inches, far narrower than the roughly
74-inch track width of today's F-150 Raptor. Even the Ranger Raptor, the
badass off-road variant that Ford sells in a handful of global markets
(but not in the US), has a track width more than six inches narrower than
the Raptor's. And yet, the wheels on the Raptor-based prototype you see
here sit fully flush in the wheelwells, the same way they do on a
production-spec F-150 Raptor.
Just how short is that wheelbase? A very rough estimate, using the 17-inch
diameter of the wheels as a guideline, puts this prototype's wheelbase at
around 108 inches. That's mighty short for a pickup truck. But it's right
in the ballpark of the last F-150-based full-size Bronco, which had a
wheelbase of 104.7 inches.
All of which leads us to believe (or at the very least, hope) that Ford
might be testing the underpinnings of a full-size two-door Bronco built on
a modified F-150 frame.
That seems unusual because, in the past, Ford has confirmed that the
long-promised return of the Bronco will be build on the T6 platform that
currently underpins the midsize Ranger. Ford has never made any mention of
a full-size Bronco.
Could the Blue Oval be working on a surprise return of the big-boy Bronco?
When reached for comment, a Ford spokesperson would only tell us that
oft-repeated line: "We do not comment on future products."
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