The Ford Bronco was originally released in America in 1965 and I’ve been a fan from when I first saw them here in Australia in the 70’s. At the time they were considered a compact SUV, as they only had two doors and were smaller than the F100 and F150, which they were derived from. However, they did have a 351 V8, four-wheel drive, heaps of ground clearance and the ability to fit big wheels and tyres.

They were built in the Michigan Truck Plant only as left hand drive, but were easy to convert to right hand drive so consequently many made their way to Australia. Due to declining demand for two door SUV’s, Ford stopped building the Bronco in 1996, and replaced it with the somewhat boring 4 door Ford Expedition. Three years ago they realised they needed a rugged SUV, so the Bronco’s rebirth began.

When I heard that after 25 years, Ford were releasing the Bronco again, I was looking forward to seeing what it was going to be like and as to whether it would be able to challenge the dominance of the Jeep Wrangler in the rugged SUV market of America and also here in Australia.

Some quick observations of the new Bronco – it will be in 2 or 4 doors, it will be powered by a 2.3 litre Turbo 4 cylinder and a 2.7 litre Turbo 6 cylinder, with no diesel planned and it’s not coming to Australia in the for see able future, which I think is a real pity.

All indications are that it’s going to be a ripper fun car with lots of variations and could very well take it up to the Wrangler.

This carsales.com.au story and video give a good idea of what we can expect from the all-new Ford Bronco.

https://www.carsales.com.au/editorial/details/ford-bronco-revealed-125164/