New Ford Bronco's Baby Bronco Sibling Unmasked in Leaked Photo

By Nick Yekikian - Jan 02, 2020

Ford Baby Bronco Front Grille Fascia Headlight 2

A photo of the grille alleged to belong to the 2021 Bronco's smaller sibling hits the internet.

Over the past few months, Ford has launched a barrage of SUVs, introducing key models like the new Ford Escape, new Explorer, and most recently, the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E—and the automaker's SUV assault isn't over yet. Next up, and soon, Ford will drop the new 2021 Bronco, as well as that 4x4's smaller sibling, the unofficially named "baby Bronco." While we've seen teasers of the big Bronco, the little one has proven more elusive, making our first glimpse of what could be its front grille, via an image posted to the forum Broco6G, all the more illuminating.

For the uninitiated, the baby Bronco is a compact off-road-oriented lifestyle SUV that likely won't share much with the full-on Bronco. Instead it will be a small, rugged-looking crossover that's based off of the new Focus' platform—the one that's not sold here in the 'States—and will be about the size of an Escape. Our only clues to its actual name—you know, beyond "baby Bronco"—are found in a trademark Ford recently filed for the name "Bronco Scout."

 

Ford baby Bronco dealer meeting

The leaked photo of what appears to be the lil' Bronco's grille seems to match up very closely to a design preview that was leaked from a Ford dealer event in Las Vegas late in 2018 (see the image of a trio of presentation screens above). The grille—or what might be tooling for making the grille part—looks to have room for Q-shaped LED daytime running lights that feed slightly into the middle of the fascia. One difference between this leak and the one from last year is that this grille has the word "BRONCO" stamped in very bold lettering in the center, rather than "FORD," reinforcing our hunch that the SUV will use the Bronco Scout name to hitch its marketing wagon to the bigger Bronco. All we can do at this point is wait and see the final product, which is set to debut before 2021.

Thanks to Bronco6G for the photo.

SOURCE: Automobile