Key highlights
- Ford Bronco Basecamp confirmed for Australia in late 2027
- Range-extender hybrid pairs a 1.5-litre petrol engine with electric motors
- Adventure-focused SUV promises up to 180km of electric range
Ford is adding a new name to its Bronco family down under, and it’s arriving from China. The Ford Bronco Basecamp has officially been confirmed for Australian showrooms from the second half of 2027, built through Ford’s long-running joint venture with Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC). It’s a very different animal to the tough, ladder-frame Bronco that shares its bones with the locally engineered Ranger and Everest.
Instead, the Ford Bronco Basecamp rides on a car-style monocoque chassis. It’s also not related to the US-market Bronco Sport, which borrows underpinnings from the Escape and Focus. This one is built entirely around Chinese-developed JMC technology and powertrains, a genuinely new approach for Ford in this segment.
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How does the Hybrid system work?
The headline news for Australian buyers is the powertrain. The Ford Bronco Basecamp will launch here as a range-extender EV, known in the industry as a REEV. In plain terms, that means a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine never actually drives the wheels. Instead, it acts purely as a generator, topping up the battery so the electric motors can keep doing the work. It’s a setup that’s becoming increasingly common in the Chinese market and gives drivers EV-like performance without the range anxiety of a pure battery car.
That battery is a 49kWh lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) unit, and Ford is targeting around 180km of pure-electric range, with a combined driving range (petrol plus electric) of up to 900km. Those are the Chinese-market projections though, and Ford Australia hasn’t locked in local figures yet.
Power is also still to be confirmed for our market, but the Chinese-spec hybrid, sold there as the Bronco New Energy, produces a combined 310kW, split between a 130kW front motor and a 190kW rear motor. An all-electric version exists in China too, though Ford Australia has stayed quiet on whether that variant will ever make the trip here.
Size and positioning
Dimensionally, the Ford Bronco Basecamp is a big unit. At 5025mm long (including its tailgate-mounted spare wheel), 1960mm wide and 1815mm tall, with a 2950mm wheelbase, it lands in similar territory to the Everest for outright footprint. It’s heavier though, tipping the scales at more than 2500kg, enough to out-weigh even the seven-seat diesel Everest.
Unlike Everest, the Ford Bronco Basecamp is strictly a five-seater. Ford is clearly chasing a specific type of buyer here: the interior can fold flat to fit a mattress, there’s an optional pop-up roof for stargazing on the range-topping Outer Banks grade, and the tailgate can convert into a makeshift outdoor kitchen. Throw in a 7.5-litre heated and cooled centre console and 6.6kW of vehicle-to-load power for running camp gear, and it’s obvious this is built for long weekends away rather than school runs. Ford has been upfront that it won’t match an Everest for outright off-road ability, but says its generous ground clearance should still see it outperform most soft-roading SUV rivals.
Why does it matter for Australian buyers?
Pricing is a long way from being finalised, but Ford has flagged the Chinese manufacturing base will help keep the Basecamp “competitive.” Realistically, that puts it in the same conversation as the GWM Tank 500 PHEV (from $79,990 drive-away) and the BYD-backed Denza B5 (from $74,990 before on-roads), both increasingly popular choices for buyers wanting big, tough-looking hybrids without a full-size ute price tag.
Ford Australia’s marketing boss, Ambrose Henderson, said the model was built with exactly this kind of buyer in mind, pointing to how much time Australians and New Zealanders spend on coastal trails and in national parks.
With more than a year until launch, there’s plenty still to confirm, local power figures, trim levels and, crucially, pricing. But the Bronco Basecamp already looks like one of the more interesting new entrants in the mid-size hybrid SUV space, and a sign of how central Chinese manufacturing is becoming to Ford’s global line-up.
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