Ford Bronco Raptor coming in 2022

An accidental social media post from a Ford veteran with 28 years of service at the company has all but confirmed the Ford Bronco Raptor has been green-lit for production.

In mid-2019, reports of a high-performance Ford Bronco surfaced, with the names Raptor and Warthog being attached to the project, along with the potential for a thumping V8 engine.

Now a Ford engineer from Detroit has all but confirmed its existence in an errant LinkedIn post – which has since been amended.

Spotted by the Bronco6G.com forum, the post from the Ford engineer responsible for electrical distribution systems (EDS) listed the 2021 Bronco and 2023 Bronco Raptor as current projects.

The timeline suggests we’ll see the new Ford Bronco Raptor revealed later in 2021 ahead of its showroom debut in 2022 as a MY2023 vehicle.

Ford currently has two Raptor models in its portfolio: the F-150 Raptor and Ranger Raptor utes, only the latter of which is officially available in Australia.

Both vehicles have significant chassis upgrades, with heavy-duty suspension chief among the enhancements to allow for extreme high-speed off-road driving.

Long-travel Fox Racing Shox dampers give the Ford Ranger Raptor the ability to get airborne with ease and, given the Bronco rides on the same T6 platform architecture as the Ranger, a similar chassis upgrade may be employed.

Ford also has a Bronco R desert racer from which to draw inspiration for the Bronco Raptor.

The race machine was designed to take on the gruelling Baja 1000 race and will provide Ford with plenty of data to make the Bronco Raptor a desert-duelling weapon.

The Bronco R’s reinforced underbody protection, beefed-up suspension, Fox shocks, 17-inch beadlock aluminium wheels and big 37-inch BFGoodrich tyres could make the transition to the production car too.

In terms of powertrain, the mooted V8 would give the Bronco significant muscle. However, it's not clear whether the Raptor version will receive an engine such as Ford’s 5.0-litre Coyote V8, which bangs out 339kW/556Nm in the Mustang GT.

There's talk the next F-150 Raptor could ditch its twin-turbo V6 for a supercharged V8.

It will be interesting to see if the Bronco Raptor adopts a V8 to take on the upcoming Jeep Wrangler V8. If so, it could have significant ramifications for the Ford Ranger, or at least confirm its suitability for bigger engines.

While Ford’s Raptor family continues to grow, the Bronco is only destined for North American markets at present. That means the only way the Bronco will come to Australia in the short-term is via conversion companies.

However, the born-again Bronco (and F-150) was listed for export markets on a recently leaked Ford document. Both models were developed for IMG markets – a Ford sales region that includes Australia – which means there's still hope for the Bronco's Aussie arrival in future.