Lucas Bell 
After months of leaks and speculation, we are finally approaching the arrival of the 2021 Ford Bronco and its “baby” sized stablemate, the Bronco Sport. Automotive News reported last month that the highly-anticipated off-roader would be making its debut in March, followed by the smaller, Escape-based Bronco in April. Despite only being days away from getting to know everything about the two SUVs, the leaking hasn’t slowed down. We now have a confirmed look at the Ford Bronco colors, as well as its all-but-confirmed manual transmission.
The first bit of information comes directly from automotive-supplier Getrag. The German-based company just posted on their website about a new product they have developed for Ford: a manual transmission for use in large RWD vehicles. Deemed the MTI550, the box is available in five, six and seven speed variations. It is the seven-speed version that is intriguing here however, as it features a low-ratio “crawling” gear perfect for off-roading. Further hinting at its eventual duty in the Bronco is the fact that the box is all-wheel drive ready, and that it is designed for use with a Hybrid powertrain, which is expected to be coming to the Bronco in the future. There really isn’t another vehicle in Ford’s upcoming portfolio that would use this sort of transmission, so this one is a pretty safe bet.
As is the information about the off-roaders upcoming palette of colors. AutomotiveTouchup.com provides factory-matched paint products, and they recently published their offerings list for the 2021 Ford Bronco. The list includes the following 10 colors: Absolute Black, Antimatter Blue Metallic, Area 51, Carbonized Gray Metallic, Cyber Orange Pearl, Fighter Jet Gray, Iconic Silver Metallic, Lucid Red Pearl, Oxford White, and Race Red.
The offerings are all tough-looking colors, albeit a bit darker than most people expected. Considering how much inspiration this truck has supposedly taken from the 1960’s models, the expectation for some bright retro colors wasn’t unfounded. Perhaps Ford wants to make the Bronco more subdued than its Jeep Wrangler rival, which is available in an assortment of loud hues.
As the end-date of all of this speculation approaches, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more information like this coming out of companies tied to Ford. While we can’t say for certain that this information is accurate at this time, it’s too on the nose to dismiss. Regardless, we will know for certain what the Ford Bronco is all about very soon.
