We've heard that the Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] could be on the cusp of bringing back the Ranger. The latest generation of its compact pickup has grown to become a mid-size and Ford felt it competed too closely with the full-size F-150. Thus it was relegated to duty in locales outside of the United States. That's a bummer for us because, by all accounts, the latest-generation Ford Ranger is a heck of a pickup. It seems that Ford has been paying attention to those of us who've missed the Ranger, and it should hopefully return by 2018. Also making a potential come back according to Bloomberg? The Ford Bronco.

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It's been a rumor that's been tossed around for a few years now, but it seems that Ford is seriously mulling a return of the now iconic off-road machine. The Bronco came to life way back in 1966 before bowing out of production in 1996. The truck grew in size quite a bit over its life, especially after Ford moved on from the more Jeep- and FJ-like first-generation Bronco. 

Now we could be ready to play witness to a Bronco resurrection, and we hope that's the case. With the F-150 SVT Raptor, Ford has already proven it can screw together a sweet off-road machine. A modern Bronco would be a welcome addition to the family, and we hope Ford would position and build it as a rugged compact sport utility vehicle meant to conquer off-road trails as much as it looks to beat up on the standard compact crossovers currently in the market.

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Just stick to the first-generation Bronco for inspiration, install a 2.0- or even 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine under the hood, put a mild version of the Raptor suspension system under it, and we're ready to go...perhaps anywhere.

Then go ahead and give us the Ford Performance version we really want.

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