Ford to revive Subaru Brumby ute

Ford is reportedly considering a new compact pick-up that would join its line-up by 2022.

But before you get excited, the mystery utility won’t be a direct replacement to the discontinued, locally-built Ford Falcon Ute — and nor will it feature leaf springs or a one-tonne tow capacity.

Instead, it would be positioned as a smaller car-based global model, based on the same platform as the new Ford Focus due here in November and designed to bolster the Blue Oval’s existing truck line-up in the US.

In some respects, like a modern-day Subaru Brumby.

According to US publication Automobile, which cites sources familiar with Ford’s future product plans, the newcomer would slot between the now-defunct Brazilian-built, Fiesta-based Courier and the Australian-developed Ranger mid-size pick-up, which enters production in the US in early 2019.

Unlike the Ranger – and for that matter, most modern mid-size utilities – the as-yet unnamed ute will employ the Focus’ monocoque chassis in place of a more rugged ladder-frame construction.

What remains to be seen is whether the utility will adopt all-wheel drive like Subaru’s Brumby (also known as the Subaru BRAT in the US) did until its demise in 1994.

The new Focus will employ a predominantly front-drive layout, however, the next-generation Focus RS ensures its platform is also engineered for AWD.

Chatter of the Focus-based utility arrives after Ford scuppered plans to offer the all-new Focus range in the US. The car-maker has reportedly decided to cut deliveries of the all-new Focus sedan and hatchback due next year, opting only for the most basic Active crossover derivative. The move stems from US president Trump’s ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations.

The Focus Active crossover is set to be built at Ford’s Cuautitlan plant in Mexico, which creates an ideal scenario for the rumoured ute to be manufactured at the same location.

The Mexican plant currently builds the smaller Fiesta, and would earn the ute access into Latin America and possibly Europe. Whether the small hay-hauler has the global reach of the upcoming Ford Bronco will be at the hands of Ford execs.

Sourcing the reincarnated Subaru Brumby from Mexico would afford it protection from America’s notorious Chicken Tax, a tariff that ultimately killed off plans for the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore to grace American roads in any significant numbers.

How differently things might have turned out had the tax not existed at all…

Australian deliveries of the 2019 Focus hatch and wagon will commence from November, with Active and possibly sedan derivatives likely to follow around mid-2019.