DETROIT — Ford has let its much-anticipated Bronco Raptor out of the cage, and it’s a beast.
With a ferocious, 400-plus horsepower engine under its ribbed hood, the Raptor sits on 37-inch tires and a 9.8-inch wider track for high speed off-roading like its big brother F-150 Raptor pickup. Combine that with Bronco’s signature, electronic detachable sway bar and Turn Assist for low-speed rock-crawling, and Bronco Raptor sets a new industry standard for offroad bandwidth.
In its escalating arms race with Jeep, Bronco’s Raptor lines up against the 470horse, V-8-powered, Wrangler 392 with 35inch Extreme Recon rubber. With its allaround capability, the Bronco hellion also becomes the new halo for Ford’s Raptor brand. True to that status, it will start at $69,995 — $2,924 more than a Raptor pickup.
While F-150 Raptor is designed for the high-speed desert runs of the Baja 1000, Bronco Raptor is targeted at Ultra4 Racing’s King of the Hammers series — North America’s demanding, multi-dimensional off-road competition where vehicles tackle courses with everything from high-speed sprints to brutal rock crawls.
“Bronco Raptor is the apex of our offroad lineup,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley. “It’s not for show and it’s not for everybody. But for people who love to get out in the wild, it’s the ultimate.”
Due this summer, Bronco Raptor will be hard to miss on road.
Like the Hulk’s biceps ripping through Bruce Banner’s shirt, its enormous tires stick out well beyond Raptor’s fender flares. The grille is stamped with the same “FORD” letters that ID the F-150 Raptor. Three amber marker lights on the bow indicate that Broncos Raptor is more than 80 inches wide (86.9 to be exact) — a regulation that usually applies to heavy duty dually trucks. Amber is the color of the Bronc’s signature ring headlights as well.
The design is Ultra4-inspired, and body panels forward of the A-pillar are new — including functional hood vents to feed the
turbo-V-6 — except for the bumper, which has been reinforced to weather whatever obstacles are in the beast’s way. Body panels aft of the C-pillar are also new to accommodate the wider track. They are made from composites (the standard Bronco is aluminum) for lightweighting and ease of manufacture. The rear swing gate is reinforced with an exoskeleton to carry the larger, 37-inch spare tire.
This being a Bronco, owners can remove body panels and fenders and replace them with modular parts of their choice. When you’re done gawking at Bronco Raptor’s biceps, check out its tattoos — “Easter eggs,” the product team calls them — including the dates of Bronco’s Baja 1000 wins (1967, 1969, 1971, 1972) on the hood intake and profiles of three generations of Bronco racers inside the gas-filler door.
Ten colors will be offered but body style is limited to a four-door model with a hardtop roof.
