Ford to bring Bronco name to New Zealand with China-built Basecamp

The Bronco is coming to New Zealand for the first time, and it will arrive as a Chinese-built range-extender hybrid.

Ford confirmed the Bronco Basecamp for this market at its Uncovered media and dealer event in Melbourne, with local arrivals to begin in the second half of 2027. It is the first electrified Bronco anywhere, and the first time in modern history the nameplate has been officially sold here. The current American Bronco is built in left-hand drive only.

The Basecamp is developed with Ford’s Chinese joint venture partner JMC and built in Nanchang. Along with the Transit City electric van, it is the first China-sourced Ford to be sold in New Zealand. Ford New Zealand managing director Annaliese Atina told us the two are the first China-built Fords to be sold in any market outside China, and that both were chosen on customer research rather than to earn Clean Vehicle Standard credits.

“We don’t need to bring them in to hit a target. We bring products in that consumers want,” Atina says.

The Basecamp is a five-seat monocoque SUV rather than a body-on-frame off-roader like the American Bronco. It uses what Ford calls a super hybrid powertrain. Twin electric motors drive all four wheels from a 49kWh battery, and a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine acts purely as a generator. It never drives the wheels. Ford’s preliminary estimate for combined range is 800 to 900km, with the electric-only figure still to be confirmed. The engineer running the Australian development programme told us it will be over 100km on the WLTP cycle.

That engineer had brought his own development vehicle to the event, cleaned up after a week in the mud at Ford’s You Yangs proving ground. Ford Australia is tuning the Basecamp’s suspension, drive modes and the software that decides when the petrol generator cuts in, and he says the intention is for that work to become the benchmark for the model worldwide.

“We are tuning this in Australia and we want to try to get that around the rest of the world,” he says. “The global programme is using Australia here to help define the suspension.”

He was clear the car itself was not designed or engineered in Australia. Ford’s local team is also doing the driver assistance calibration needed for a five-star ANCAP rating.

Towing is still being validated. He says the Basecamp will tow, but positioned it as a camper trailer or jet ski proposition rather than a 3.5-tonne one, given the effect on electric range. A braked rating will follow.

The camping features are the point of the Basecamp name. The Outer Banks grade gets an electric pop-up lift roof that raises the cabin height for sleeping, and a 7.5-litre warm-or-cool storage console between the front seats. The rear seats fold flat and a custom-fit inflatable mattress is an accessory. The rear swing gate carries what Ford calls the Wild Kitchen, a fold-down table with power from the vehicle’s Pro Power Onboard system, which delivers up to 6.6kW through an external outlet for cooktops, coffee machines and camp lighting. There is a bottle opener on the tailgate.

“Sixty years of history on your shoulders is a huge responsibility,” Ford studio design director Simon Brook, who previously led Ford’s design studio in China, says. “So we started by preserving that honest Bronco stance, re-imagining those classic proportions for the electric era and balancing rugged volumes with modern design language.”

Ford Australia and New Zealand has so far released only the battery capacity, the 6.6kW power output and the preliminary range estimate. Where local figures are missing we have filled the gaps from the Chinese specification, which may differ from what arrives here. In China the same vehicle is sold as the Bronco New Energy in both range-extender and full battery electric forms, the latter with a 105kWh battery.

Only the range-extender is confirmed for New Zealand. The Chinese range-extender runs a smaller 43.7kWh battery, so the local car has already been revised. Chinese figures put the vehicle at 5025mm long, 1960mm wide and 1825mm tall on a 2950mm wheelbase, with a kerb weight of 2510kg. The length includes the tailgate-mounted spare wheel, so body to body it is close to the 4914mm Everest, but it is 37mm wider, has a 50mm longer wheelbase, is within 20mm of the same height and weighs around 100kg more than a V6 4×4 Everest. Those numbers surprised us. We had expected the Bronco to be a size smaller than Everest, and in the confines of the Melbourne studio it was hard to judge how big the car really is.

The motors produce 130kW at the front and 180kW at the rear for a combined 310kW, while the 1.5-litre generator engine makes 110kW. The battery is a lithium iron phosphate unit supplied by BYD’s FinDreams division, running on an 800-volt architecture with DC charging at up to 90kW. Suspension is double wishbone at the front and five-link at the rear, with 220mm of ground clearance, 600mm wading depth and approach and departure angles of 30 and 32 degrees.

The Chinese range-extender is fitted with electronically actuated mechanical diff locks front and rear and a locked 50:50 centre mode, features the battery electric version does not get. The Australian engineer would not discuss the local drivetrain specification, saying only that the vehicle is capable off road and has selectable modes. The cars shown in Melbourne rode on 18-inch wheels. Inside, the Chinese car carries a 15.6-inch centre screen and an 8.8-inch driver display.

“When we looked at how Kiwis spend their time outdoors, the national parks, the coastal trails, and the distances they travel, the fit was immediate,” Ford New Zealand marketing director Mathew Slade says.

We spent time in and around two Basecamps in Melbourne, both wearing prototype labels. The cabin is spacious, particularly in the rear, and the fit and finish is on a par with, if not better than, current Ford product sold here. The pop-up roof lifts by about 360mm, enough to sit upright in bed mode.

Local pricing, variants and an exact arrival date will be announced closer to launch. Ford is taking registrations of interest at ford.co.nz/keep-me-informed.