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Spied: possible Bronco mule seen testing in Detroit

Playboyshiredhand

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yeah....the 4 door is sitting lower on the rear axle then the 2 door.....they're probably just mules to keep everybody guessing…..

they're killing us, this is torture :D

Read the back of vehicle -- It say's left hand drive and the 18 wheeler in the background look like the road trains from Australia. Do not believe this is a vehicle for the USA much less a new Bronco
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Skifryan

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Read the back of vehicle -- It say's left hand drive and the 18 wheeler in the background look like the road trains from Australia. Do not believe this is a vehicle for the USA much less a new Bronco
As far as I’m aware the Bronco is being developed in Australia. This is exactly the same shape as the mule spotted last month in Michigan so I can’t see it not being the Bronco.
 
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Stampede.Offroad

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Read the back of vehicle -- It say's left hand drive and the 18 wheeler in the background look like the road trains from Australia. Do not believe this is a vehicle for the USA much less a new Bronco
Yes, it is in Australia. But the Ford Ranger and its T6 chassis that it shares with the Everest were also developed in Australia. The mules we have seen (with the exception of that 2-door in the right side of the AUS photo) have the same wheelbase as the Everest. They are undoubtably doing some of the Bronco testing in Australia, which they actually admitted to many months ago (the "top hat" or body would be developed in the US, and the chassis would continue to be developed in AUS).

Ford doesn't want to have to develop different products and parts for each regulatory market. They want as much as possible to use the same widget and sell the same gizmo everywhere.
 

BroncoMike

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Which brings us back to the fender mounted side marker/turn signal repeater seen on the US mules. These are not a US requirement (though not prohibited), and while I'm certain the Internet will immediately prove me wrong, I can't recall seeing a US-made vehicle for the USDM with them aside from side-view mirror-mounted offerings. The fender-mounted repeaters are most frequently associated with the Euro market... but possibly required in Aus as well (I don't know and I'm too lazy to research it). The presence of these lights on the US mules leads me to believe they were constructed for compliance in another market - e.g., built and used for some time in Aus before being shiped stateside for further testing.

I'm not certain if any new information can be gleaned from that, other than perhaps that the US mule is wearing an Aus-spec Ranger body - that may or may not be current generation.
 

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Stampede.Offroad

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...The fender-mounted repeaters are most frequently associated with the Euro market... but possibly required in Aus as well (I don't know and I'm too lazy to research it). The presence of these lights on the US mules leads me to believe they were constructed for compliance in another market - e.g., built and used for some time in Aus before being shiped stateside for further testing.

I'm not certain if any new information can be gleaned from that, other than perhaps that the US mule is wearing an Aus-spec Ranger body - that may or may not be current generation.
My car has them, and so do other VWs. It's just a leftover of the franken-body, which we know is just a placeholder anyway. I wouldn't read too much into that detail.

While the US "spy photos" had a very staged look to them, this one from AUS looks considerably more candid, and a lot less flattering for the Bronco.
 

BroncoMike

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What year is your VW? Is it a Chattanooga-built car (NMS)?

It's a feature of the mule body, yes, but the mule body's origin is not a US domestic market Ranger - the Ranger I looked at yesterday didn't have repeaters in that location.
 

sbronemann

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Which brings us back to the fender mounted side marker/turn signal repeater seen on the US mules. These are not a US requirement (though not prohibited), and while I'm certain the Internet will immediately prove me wrong, I can't recall seeing a US-made vehicle for the USDM with them aside from side-view mirror-mounted offerings. The fender-mounted repeaters are most frequently associated with the Euro market... but possibly required in Aus as well (I don't know and I'm too lazy to research it). The presence of these lights on the US mules leads me to believe they were constructed for compliance in another market - e.g., built and used for some time in Aus before being shiped stateside for further testing.

I'm not certain if any new information can be gleaned from that, other than perhaps that the US mule is wearing an Aus-spec Ranger body - that may or may not be current generation.
I believe the new Ranger's have the fender-mounted blinkers/running lights. I was in getting my truck fixed last week and they had a brand new Ranger in the showroom. If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure they had fender-mounted blinkers and running lights over the front wheel arches. Not 100% sure on that, but for some reason I think I recall seeing them.
 

Stampede.Offroad

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What year is your VW? Is it a Chattanooga-built car (NMS)?

It's a feature of the mule body, yes, but the mule body's origin is not a US domestic market Ranger - the Ranger I looked at yesterday didn't have repeaters in that location.
A B5 Passat.

The production vehicles aren't likely to have a fuel dump valve either, but the mule had it. Lots of those small details are irrelevant.

As far as being built / tested somewhere else first, they could have been. The T6 chassis, Ranger, and Everest were all designed and tested in AUS, and there was an article from an AUS auto outlet that claimed the Bronco top hat would be designed in the US but the chassis would continue to be developed in AUS. It would not surprise me if they sent this frankenbody vehicle over here just for some photo op's, or to later have the proper Bronco body swapped onto it.
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