The Tea Leaves Continue to Suggest a Ford Bronco Raptor is On the Way
We all know that scene in Jurassic Park where the island’s designated hunter gets outsmarted by the raptors and becomes their dinner. That dude’s death always bothered me because he was cool, and I hate it when cool characters buy the farm in disaster movies. Also, he seemed smart enough to not be outwitted by the voracious dinos, unlike others in the flick.
Ahem, where was I? Oh yes – Ford might be hiding some Raptors of its own, so to speak. Although instead of disappearing behind bushes, these Raptors are lurking in plain sight on public roads, with only canvas and tape concealing them from those who hunt this type of prey.
We’ve reported on the possibility/likelihood of the Ford Bronco Raptor before, and now our friends at the blog about autos have some pics. Autoblog posits that thanks to wider fender flares, a heavier-duty rear axle, and heavy gussets around the suspension brackets, there’s a good chance this cam-covered Bronco is a Raptor model.
Not to mention that the Bronco shares a good chunk of its underpinnings with the Ranger pickup, which has a Raptor trim for sale in other markets, and that the Bronco has the same coil-spring suspension of said Ranger Raptor, and well, Autoblog comes to the conclusion that yes, folks, this is a Raptor version of the Bronco. Or at least, a trim that offers hopped-up off-road performance, whatever it might be called. Should it be produced, of course.
I tend to agree – not only does that reasoning make sense, but again, we’ve reported on this vehicle, too. Given Jeep’s response to the Bronco’s unveiling and the habit of automakers to get in performance-related pissing contests (especially among the Detroit Three), I’d be shocked if Ford doesn’t produce a Bronco that’s even more bad-ass than what it has shown so far. Regardless of whether it gets called Raptor or not.
The Jeeps in Jurassic Park were cool. But with apologies to FCA/Stellantis, can you imagine if Jurassic Park 20: Aging Jeff Goldblum Needs a Paycheck has these babies on hand for our doomed-to-be-dinosaur-food characters to drive?
Between that and the original JP Explorers, Ford’s marketing possibilities are endless.
Meantime, head to AB for the pics.
[Image: Ford]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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What ever the case, there's never been a better time to double down on the specialty gas guzzlers, devil cars and flush the econo boxes along with their young/first time buyers and other cheapskates.
And if it does see the light of day it will still have an abhorrent level of quality just like all Fords. Hopefully it at least makes it out of the factory before needing extensive repairs.