Report: Ford Is Building A Bronco Pickup To Directly Fight The Gladiator

It may be here by 2024

2024 Ford Bronco pickup - is it coming?
[Image: Bronco6G forums]
  • According to an Automobile report, Ford is working on a Ford Bronco pickup.
  • A pickup variant of the Bronco SUV would compete directly against the Jeep Gladiator
  • Sources estimate a Bronco Pickup could arrive by 2024.

A Bronco pickup may arrive by 2024.

Automobile reports a Ford Bronco pickup is, in fact, heading to production. The company plans to launch a pickup based on the 2021 Ford Bronco SUV to take on the brand new Jeep Gladiator. According to AutoForecast Solutions, the Bronco Pickup may be here by July 2024, or five years from now. The firm indicates Ford began development no more than a few months before the Jeep Gladiator launched.

If you’re wondering, “Wait a minute, what about the Ford Ranger?”, so are we. Ford won’t comment on future product, so there’s currently little to substantiate the report beyond industry estimates. However, if a pickup is truly coming, it would land within the first lifestyle of the upcoming Bronco. This isn’t the only truck we expect to see from the Blue Oval, either. Beyond the new Super Duty, there should be a Ford Ranger Raptor, a Focus-based unibody Courier mini-truck and a revamped F-150, at the very least.

One of Automobile’s sources says he doesn’t expect a Ford Bronco pickup to arrive anytime before 2022. The company seems like it has its hands full with truck development at the moment, so that seems like a fair assessment.

Gateway Bronco Modern Warrior
This is what the original Bronco pickup looked like, at least in Restomod form. [Photo: Gateway Bronco]

Anything like the old Bronco?

We know the Ford Bronco SUV is coming as a blocky, no-nonsense design that harkens back to the original models from the 1960s. However, one thing that almost certainly won’t come from that era is a single-cab, two-door variant of a Ford Bronco pickup. Like the Gladiator, it will likely come as a four-door double cab model.

There’s little chance a Ford Bronco pickup would have a V8 engine, either. Odds are Ford will fit whatever they decide to put in the Bronco SUV. Right now, it seems that will be at least a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine. Possibly, the 2.7-liter V6 version could makes its way into the SUV, and by extension the pickup. That’s no major loss, since we expect the four-banger to manage north of 300 horsepower and around the same amount of torque.

With the midsize truck segment becoming evermore crowded, maybe there is room for Ford to sell two midsize trucks side-by-side. A Ford Bronco pickup would take on the Gladiator, while the Ranger would take on the more traditional competition.

Trucks from the Chevrolet Colorado to the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma will likely see some major updates within the next few years. Ford will eventually redesign the Ranger, as well. With a new Bronco, the company may have the means to put a serious rain on Toyota’s parade when the future sales figures roll in.