Just yesterday, Ford Authority spotted what appeared to be a Ford Bronco Sport Raptor prototype out driving around, wearing no camo whatsoever and some rather interesting features. Those features included actual Raptor badges, which were obviously notable because, well, no one really expected The Blue Oval to make a high-performance, ultra off-road capable version of the smaller crossover. Now, the automaker is claiming that this alleged Ford Bronco Raptor isn’t real, but rather, it’s just a case of some employees playing around, apparently.
“This is our team having fun, not a Bronco Sport Raptor,” Ford Enthusiast Vehicles Communication Manager Brandon Turkus said in a statement. “Just like our customers, we encourage employees to leverage the customization superpowers of the Bronco family and continue to explore possibilities.”
We’ve certainly seen our fair share of lesser models wearing badges taken from higher trims or high-performance variants over the years, but those are widely panned by automotive enthusiasts for, well, trying to be something they’re not. It’s unclear why anyone at Ford thought that slapping Raptor badges on a lifted Ford Bronco Sport – along with mud-terrain tires, a new exhaust, and fender flares – wouldn’t attract a ton of attention and spur speculation across the internet, but perhaps that was the intention.
In any event, an actual Ford Bronco Sport Raptor would certain break the mold that The Blue Oval has set for the Raptor family, in general, as it’s a unibody crossover and not a traditional body-on-frame vehicle like every other model that currently wears a Raptor badge. It would certainly be a bold departure for the automaker to go that route, especially if it didn’t bother to give a hypothetical Bronco Sport Raptor some sort of major power boost, as is the case with other Raptors, too. Regardless, for now at least, the Badlands trimmed crossover with the Sasquatch Package will remain the most off-road capable Bronco Sport in the lineup.
Comments
Apparently, these employees need some REAL work to do. We already know how bad Ford management is, so I guess they’re just running wild.
You think the employees are working 24/7 with zero free time outside of work to customize their vehicles?
Fords recalling millions of vehicles might as well recall their employees custom Bronco Sport Raptor