Ford Baby Bronco caught testing off-road

Our spy photographers have captured the upcoming Baby Bronco out in what we hope will be its natural environment: an off-road trail. Based on what we assume is the 2020 Ford Escape platform, and perhaps named the Ford Bronco Scout, the camouflaged test vehicle sure looks exactly like the leaked images we saw last year of the off-road-oriented crossover. The square nose, the blocky roof, the chopped upright tail … it’s all there.

The roof is a bit taller and oddly squared, almost as if mimicking a tall roof Ford Transit. However, the extra height does seem to correspond to the beefy roof rails featured in the leaked images (photo below).

Those also showed some kind of interesting detail in the Baby Bronco’s C pillar. It was difficult to tell exactly what it was given the size of the leaked images, but the large tacked-on camouflaged panel on this test vehicle would seem to confirm that could indeed be a signature element of the new off-roader. The headlights also seem consistent, as the camouflage closely wraps around the HID headlight element in the same way that the LED accent lighting does in the leaked images.

And for those wondering whether this off-roader really will be a crossover, the five lug nut wheels would certainly suggest that. So would Ford’s own publicized crossover strategy that indicates it will have two compact crossovers in the future. One will be “urban/sleek” – the 2020 Ford Escape – and the other “off-road/rugged,” which would presumably be this.

We expect to see more of these Baby Bronco/Bronco Scout test vehicles being shaken out in various parts of the country, so stay tuned for more photos and information as we get them.