Ford has released the first official images of a brand new Bronco mid-size SUV on one of its Instagram pages aptly named Ford Bronco. The entire page, so far comprising 24 images, shows many details of the upcoming Bronco, counting down to its official reveal on July 13.
Enthusiasts may remember the small clip Ford released in November last year on its Youtube channel, which had initially set the ball rolling. Watch the clip below to refresh your memory:
Now, let’s get back to the matter at hand: the new Ford Bronco. Scrolling from the top on the Ford Bronco Instagram page, what first catches your eye is the 9-image compilation of the rear tyre of the new Bronco kicking up dust. This is in tune with the original Bronco which was conceived in 1965 as Ford’s response to the off-roading capabilities of the Jeep CJ-5 (a version of which was sold in India as well), and that after about a quarter of a century off production lines (the fifth-gen Ford went out of production in 1996) it is heartening to see Ford stick to the Bronco's original ideals.
Right below it is a three-image composition comprising a dimly-lit silhouette of the Bronco’s front, showing off the grille and headlights. The middle image, is a video, but we’ll get to that in a bit. The next row of images show off the fenders, headlights and ORVMs of the 2020 Bronco, juxtaposed with the middle image which shows off the grille, headlights and windscreen of the original.
These images are what impressed this correspondent the most, as not only do they line up perfectly and show off how well-designed the lines of the original Bronco were, that Ford hasn’t needed to radically change them to suit the sensibilities of a time so far in the future, when SUVs have become the norm, and are no longer looked at as utilitarian run-abouts.
The bottom collage of nine images show off what looks like the Desert Mountain range in the background, with the sandy terrain of the foreground progressing into muddy tracks, with the bucking Bronco emblem at the tracks’ vanishing point.
Some fun (and not so fun) facts
Ford had launched the Mustang two-door sportscar (named after the P-51 Mustang fighter plane of the second world war) in 1964, followed by the Bronco, again a two-door vehicle (albeit on an SUV/pick-up truck platform), in 1965. Another car with an equine-based name was the Pinto, a two-door hatchback launched in 1971, which has gone down in history as a ‘dangerous’ car right from the factory, the placement of its fuel tank at the rear of the car making it a fire hazard in case of rear-end collisions. Since then, there haven't been any other cars named after any other horse, or breed thereof, in Ford's passenger car lineup.
Coming back to the new Bronco, Ford had originally intended to launch it on July 9. However, it had to shift the date to July 13, so as not to coincide the launch of the new Bronco with the birthday of OJ Simpson, a former American football player and actor who was charged with the murder of his ex-wife, and had been the subject of a high-profile chase with police while driving a white Ford Bronco!
Coming to the Indian context, the chances of the Bronco coming to our shores are remote. That said, Ford already has in place a deal with Mahindra, for the creation of what it says will be a Kia Seltos rival on the charts. Could that be it? We'd love for it to be true, wouldn't you?
We now leave you with the video, as promised, of the new Bronco’s headlight and grille, posted by the brand on their Instagram.