Ford Market News

[kscarbel2]

Ford may expand off-road line beyond Bronco, Bronco Sport

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  July 6, 2020

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is not just introducing the Bronco and Bronco Sport next week; it's launching a vehicle line that could grow to include more off-road nameplates.

Ford on Monday confirmed Bronco would be a sub-brand, using the "Built Wild" tag line. Executives as far back as early 2019 had been telling dealers its off-road offerings would be a "family" of vehicles.

That brand will include two-door and four-door versions of the Bronco SUV, as well as the smaller Bronco Sport crossover, a name Ford confirmed Monday after previously referring to it as a small, rugged off-road utility.

There's room to expand the Bronco line beyond those models, officials say.

"We'll start with the three models that we have," Mark Grueber, Ford's U.S. consumer marketing manager, said on a call with media. "We will continue to look to where there's customers we could satisfy with Bronco and how to continue to expand the brand in the future."

Ford is planning to introduce a Bronco-based pickup in 2024, according to a forecasting firm, and the automaker is also planning a compact, unibody pickup next year, which reports have said could be called Maverick.

Dave Pericak, Ford's director of icon vehicles, said each model added to the brand must live up to the Bronco name.

"You can make the mistake with a family of vehicles if you just start peppering that family with things that don't live up to the core tenets with what it is you're building," he said. "Everything we do ... it will have to live up to that same DNA and that same goal that the Bronco has, otherwise it doesn't belong in the family. We're not just badge-engineering. It's not the name that makes the vehicle, it's the vehicle that makes the name."

Ford on Monday also formally announced the creation of Bronco Nation, a Ford-certified online community that went live earlier this year and will help connect enthusiasts for trail rides and other meetups. Robert Parker, a retired Lincoln marketing executive and Bronco enthusiast, told Automotive News last month that he advised on the site's creation.

As part of its bid to connect fans, Ford said it would create experiences called "Bronco Off-Roadeos," which it described as outdoor adventure playgrounds to help them learn how to take their vehicles off-road.

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[kscarbel2]

Clearly, Ford is "all in" with the Bronco, which means Bill Ford said go for it.

[Maxidyne]

The question for Ford: Is the hard core SUV market big enough for both the Wrangler and the Bronco?

[kscarbel2]

23 minutes ago, Maxidyne said:

The question for Ford: Is the hard core SUV market big enough for both the Wrangler and the Bronco?

That is a question, and I'm going to say yes. Crossover market share will be victim.

[Maxidyne]

Hopefully you're right. Saw an article where Ford thinks the Wrangler sales boom was inspired by "overlanding", which is basicly exploring the back roads. I've been doing that for a half century in front wheel drive and even rear wheel drive sedans, what do I need a jacked up 4x4 for? Reminds me of the ride on gravel country roads we did with motorcycles with sidecars last year, one of which was a BMW K bike with only 3" of ground clearance. While almost every other vehicle on that road was a 4x4 side by side ATV or Jeep, we got through with no problems with 1WD along with the mail carrier in a FWD car!

Clearly, a lot of people are buying these high ground clearance 4x4s to pose with in the parking lots...

[kscarbel2]

1 hour ago, Maxidyne said:

Hopefully you're right. Saw an article where Ford thinks the Wrangler sales boom was inspired by "overlanding", which is basicly exploring the back roads. I've been doing that for a half century in front wheel drive and even rear wheel drive sedans, what do I need a jacked up 4x4 for? Reminds me of the ride on gravel country roads we did with motorcycles with sidecars last year, one of which was a BMW K bike with only 3" of ground clearance. While almost every other vehicle on that road was a 4x4 side by side ATV or Jeep, we got through with no problems with 1WD along with the mail carrier in a FWD car!

Clearly, a lot of people are buying these high ground clearance 4x4s to pose with in the parking lots...

Selling to younger (than me) customers, it's about lifestyle. Selling to me, it's more about what I'm accustomed to, recalling the days of exploring with an MB, CJ-2A, CJ-3A, M-38, CJ-3B or FJ-40 but with modern day comfort.

[Maxidyne]

I see your point, if Suburu et al can convince people in southern California that they need AWD to cruise the shopping malls, Ford can probably convince young buyers that don't know better that they need a jacked up 4WD Bronco to survive gravel roads. Heck, one of the best dirt road vehicles I've had was an '86 Golf diesel, on water logged roads it was light enough to go where the big pickups feared to tread and it's skinny tires gave good traction on the snow. But a lot of marketing was aspirational, reminds me of when my late mom was car shopping 20 years ago and I tried to talk her into something like a Focus wagon... She bought a 7 passenger minivan instead because she thought she'd need all the seats when all the family came to visit her in Florida! Twenty years later my brother has the minivan, I don't think all 7 seats have ever been used, and either one or both of the back seat rows have been out of it for years!

[RoadwayR]

Remember you can drive an hour and a half out of Los Angeles and be up to your arse in snow.  Have a lot of friends with AWD and FWD vehicles because they enjoy winter sports.  But, many do buy for no reason.  I guess why there a 2WD Wranglers now.

Edited July 6, 2020 by RoadwayR

[kscarbel2]

 

[kscarbel2]

Ford faces parts shortages as virus impacts Mexico factories

Financial Times  /  July 10, 2020

Ford is facing potential parts shortages from suppliers in northern Mexico as the pandemic throttles production, threatening the ability of US factories to keep manufacturing vehicles.

The governor of the state of Chihuahua, an important region supplying the US automotive industry, has barred employers from operating with more than half their workforce in an attempt to control the spread of Covid-19.

“Due to COVID-19, the State of Chihuahua in Mexico has limited employee attendance to 50 per cent, a region in which we have several suppliers,” Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford’s Americas and International Markets Group, said in a statement. “With our US plants running at 100 per cent, that is not sustainable. While we do not expect any impact to production next week, we are continuing to work with government officials on ways to safely and constructively resume remaining production.”

Besides suppliers, Ford operates an engine plant in Chihuahua where 2,400 workers make engines for its larger F-series trucks and the Escape crossover utility vehicle.

Christopher Landau, the US ambassador to Mexico who has a reputation for speaking candidly, told an Atlantic Council webinar on Thursday that Ford was struggling to deal with capacity constraints at the engine plant.

“Last night at the dinner I was talking to one of the senior executives from the Ford Motor Company,” he said. “They were saying they are going to have to start shutting down their factories in the United States as of next week if they don’t get that rolling.”

The dinner he referred to was at the White House during Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s visit to Washington.

Óscar Albín, president of the National Autoparts Industry, said that while he had not heard about Ford’s problem specifically, in Chihuahua, “many car parts are not being produced to the needs of the car factories in the US and Mexico. In June, production was sufficient because the car factories were not working at 100 per cent either, but in July the [car] factories are at 100 per cent”.

Asked if there could be shortages, Mr Albín added: “It’s not that there could be, there are. And not just Ford, all the factories in the US.”

Luis Carlos Ramirez, Chihuahua president of Index, which groups manufacture-for-export industries, said Ford had started at 30 per cent capacity at the start of June, when the automotive industry was designated essential.

At that time, under Mexico’s traffic light system which governs the gradual reopening of the economy according to the spread of the virus, Chihuahua was on red, but two weeks ago, it moved to amber and increased to 50 per cent.

“We hope we will soon change to yellow and be on 80 per cent,” Mr Ramirez said.

The only surprise in a carmaker experiencing supply chain problems in Mexico because of the pandemic was that it had not happened sooner, said Kristin Dziczek, vice-president of industry, labour and economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Michigan.

She said trouble at the Chihuahua engine plant would be particularly painful because while all vehicle sales are down — Ford’s US sales plunged 33 per cent in the second quarter — demand for trucks had been more resilient. Furthermore, trucks were more profitable.

[kscarbel2]

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[kscarbel2]

At 8:01pm tonight, you could hear a pin drop at FCA headquarters. The Jeep brand has nothing to directly compete with this.

Bill Ford is a very pleased and proud man tonight. Ford has a major all-new sales channel.

I believe the Bronco will do wonders for reviving Ford's share price.

[RoadwayR]

I really like it, but it sure looks like a Scout to me!  

[Maxidyne]

Being a geek, I read the specs first... This thing is as wide as an F150! The Jeeps have gotten porky, but this is really the return of the full size big Bronco. No weight given, but this thing has to be at least as heavy as the 2 (metric) ton F150 4x4. That said, with a base price under $30k the mall parking lots will soon be full of 'em. More tempting is the Bronco Sport, as it's based on the same platform as the AWD Escape which means independent suspension at both ends and more interior space that the bulky Bronco. Only slightly heavier than the AWD Escape which with the 2 liter Ecoboost's 250 horses should give a healthy power/weight ratio. Better yet, the price is about the same as an AWD Escape!

[RoadwayR]

Speaking of the F-150, I was really hoping the Bronco was going to offer the base F-150's naturally aspirated 3.3L V-6.  I guess Jeep is going to dump the Hemi into the Wrangler now, that ought to be interesting.  

[kscarbel2]

2021 Ford Bronco Gets a Manual Transmission

Dave Vanderwerp, Car & Driver  /  July 14, 2020

The Bronco's Getrag seven-speed stick-shift is the only manual in Ford's U.S. lineup that's not found in a Mustang.

Any new manual transmission is a rarity these days, and that the new Bronco includes this celebration-worthy bit makes us even more enthused about this SUV's revival.

The Bronco's seven-speed manual is a [German] Getrag unit, part of the company's new family of six- and seven-speed longitudinal manuals that it calls MTI550. The 550 stands for its torque capacity in newton-meters, which equates to 406 lb-ft. The turbocharged 2.3-liter inline four-cylinder, the only engine available with the manual, is comfortably under that, with a peak of 310 lb-ft and 270 horsepower.

Ford calls this new seven-speed transmission MT88, and it's an entirely new architecture, not based on the Getrag MT82 six-speed that's in today's Mustang. That's a good thing, as shift-quality issues with the Mustang's manual have led to a class-action lawsuit.

The Bronco's manual becomes only the third available across Ford's lineup in the U.S., the other two both being in Mustangs: the previously mentioned six-speed, and the Shelby GT350's [Mexican] Tremec six-speed.

Ford insists on referring to this new manual's first gear as a creeper gear, going so far as to label it with a C on the shift knob and putting it in a dogleg position down and to the left, below reverse. However, the overall gearing in low range once the Bronco's larger tires and the Wrangler's shorter low-range ratio are factored are similar.

The Bronco's 6.588:1 first gear, paired with the shorter 3.06:1 low gear of the optional two-speed transfer case and the shortest 4.70:1 rear axle, means first gear is good for up to 7 mph in low range, same as the Wrangler. In high range, it will take you to 21 mph, versus 29 mph for the Wrangler, so it doesn't seem out of the question to use it in regular driving. We'll see if it's more advantageous to use it to extract the best acceleration runs once we get one to test. In its 0.646:1 top gear, the Bronco will cruise along at 80 mph at roughly 2400 rpm, about 150 rpm lower than the Wrangler.

While we await the chance to flick the Bronco's new transmission through its seven gears, let's just laud the fact that there's a new manual on the market.

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[kscarbel2]

https://www.ford.com/suvs/bronco/2021/?gnav=header-all-vehicles

[kscarbel2]

Ford aims for off-road success with 2021 Bronco, Bronco Sport

Michael Martinez, Automotive News  /  July 13, 2020

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co., resurrecting a historically popular nameplate with modern amenities such as a trail-mapping system and 360-degree camera views, aims to attract a new generation of overlanding enthusiasts with the first members of the Bronco family of off-roaders.

The 2021 Bronco SUV and Bronco Sport crossover signify a new direction for the automaker as it aims to wrest back a slice of the market long ago ceded to rivals -- particularly Jeep. Under CEO Jim Hackett, Ford is pruning its lineup to focus on more profitable vehicles that elicit more emotion and passion from customers.

It expects the pair of rugged utilities — unveiled Monday directly into the living rooms of would-be buyers via primetime introductions on ESPN, National Geographic and ABC — to do just that.

Under development for the past half-decade and arriving nearly 25 years after the last Bronco departed, the sixth-generation SUV will serve as the flagship for a new off-road subbrand. It will be built on the same platform as the Ford Ranger midsize pickup, come in two-door and four-door variants and offer tires as big as 35 inches. Its modular chassis — featuring removable doors and roof panels — lends itself to customization, allowing dealers to generate additional profit through a redesigned and expanded accessories business.

It goes on sale next spring, Ford said, priced from $29,995, including shipping, for the base two-door Bronco.

The unibody Bronco Sport, which shares a platform with the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair compact crossovers, is meant for customers who may not want as extreme an adventure, but it will nonetheless offer four-wheel-drive capability and a slew of off-road features.

"Bronco has always been about adaptability," said Mark Grueber, Ford's consumer marketing manager for the Bronco. "Our family of Broncos is designed to provide ideal choices to meet all of our customers' needs better than we have before."

The unveiling, which was delayed by three months and converted into a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic, marked the culmination of more than three years of teasing and hype-building since Ford confirmed the Bronco's revival at the 2017 Detroit auto show.

Bronco specs

The Bronco comes standard with a 2.3-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost engine that's expected to generate 270 hp and best-in-class 310 pound-feet of torque. Ford also has used that engine in vehicles such as the Ranger, Focus RS and Mustang.

Buyers can upgrade to a 2.7-liter V-6, which Ford has been testing in a Bronco R race prototype, that's expected to generate a best-in-class 310 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque.

A 10-speed automatic transmission is standard, while a seven-speed manual is optional.

The Bronco will come with two 4x4 systems: a base system with a two-speed electronic transfer case and an optional advanced system with a two-speed electromechanical transfer case, a Dana solid rear axle and an independent front differential unit. Its maximum ground clearance is a best-in-class 11.6 inches, Ford said.

In a nod to its past, the new Bronco comes with seven G.O.A.T. (goes over any type of terrain) modes: Normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery and Sand, Baja, Mud/Ruts, and Rock Crawl. The first-generation Bronco was nicknamed G.O.A.T. by Donald Frey, who was a Ford executive when it debuted in 1966.

Additional features

The SUV offers a number of features meant to appeal to off-road enthusiasts. It has rubberized flooring with drains and optional plugs, allowing users to simply hose it down to clean away dirt, mud or sand. Switches on the instrument panel are made with silicone rubber parts that can get wet.

Optional marine-grade vinyl seats are water-resistant and mold-resistant, which Ford says is an industry first.

The interior also includes a number of hand grips, emblazoned with the Bronco name, to hold onto for stability while riding off-road.

"Trail sights" — raised black bars on the hood — can help navigate uneven terrain and double as tie-downs for canoes or other items stored on the roof.

The back has a side-swinging gate with a built-in bottle opener and a slide-out tailgate.

On four-door models, the removable doors can be placed in protective bags and stored in the back — an advantage it's trying to build over the rival Jeep Wrangler.

The roof also is removable, in three sections on the two-door model and four on the four-door version. The vehicle was designed to have an "open-air" roof, without the traditional crossbar found between the front and rear seats.

The four-door Bronco has a standard cloth soft top, while hard-top options exist for both the two-door and four-door versions. A Sasquatch off-road package includes 35-inch tires, 17-inch wheels and other features.

Ford plans to offer 200 accessories when the vehicle launches next year.

"There's no such thing as a standard Bronco because every Bronco is now different," chief designer Paul Wraith said. "With one hour and a wrench, you can strip this truck almost down to its bare bones and replace or upgrade different components."

Trail-mapping system

The Bronco will get Ford's next-generation Sync 4 infotainment system, which can be updated over the air and also will be available on the upcoming F-150 pickup and Mustang Mach-E electric crossover. The Bronco comes with either a standard 8-inch or optional 12-inch center screen and an LCD instrument cluster. A 360-degree camera system can provide "spotter views" for additional visibility when drivers crawl over rocks and other difficult terrain, Ford said.

A trail-mapping system will let users track and share their off-road experience.

"It works online or off on either of the navigation-capable 8- or 12-inch Sync systems," Grueber said, "allowing users to select one of hundreds of available curated trail maps to map out and then track, capture and share their adventures with others."

The vehicle will come in five trims above the base model: Big Bend, Black Diamond, Outer Banks, Wildtrack and Badlands. Ford also will offer 3,500 First Edition units.

Officials said the Bronco would arrive at dealerships next spring. The company did not provide any information on price beyond the $29,995 minimum.

Bronco Sport

For months before the official name was revealed, the Bronco Sport was unofficially known as the "baby Bronco."

The crossover will be smaller than its off-road sibling, but Ford says it's still plenty capable. In fact, developers based the design on the 2004 Bronco SUV concept.

"The guys who love the Bronco Sport also love the Bronco — it's just too much for them," Wraith said.

Officials say the Bronco Sport will target competitors including the Jeep Compass and Honda CR-V. As with the Bronco, Ford designed the Bronco Sport to be highly customizable, planning more than 100 accessories when it launches this year.

"Every inch of it was designed and engineered with weekend adventurers in mind," said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's product development and purchasing boss.

The Bronco Sport, on sale later this year, will be powered by a standard 1.5-liter EcoBoost engine that gets 181 hp and 190 pound-feet of torque. There's an optional 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine that gets 250 hp and 277 pound-feet of torque.

Both engines are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Bronco Sport will come in base, Big Bend, Outer Banks and Badlands trims. Ford also will make 2,000 First Editions. Pricing was not available.

Bronco Sport specs

Developers took special care to differentiate the Bronco Sport from the vehicles with which it shares a platform.

"Bronco Sport is not an Escape with big tires," said Mark Aguirre, chief program engineer.

The vehicle's wheelbase, ground clearance and independent front and rear suspensions are unique. Ford tested the vehicle in Borrego Springs, Calif., the same location where it hosted the media drive for the original Ford F-150 Raptor.

It comes with 4wd and has a number of drive modes, similar to the Bronco: Normal, Eco, Sport, and Slippery and Sand, with additional Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl modes on Badlands and First Edition models.

The interior comes with a number of features catering to active customers, including a safari-style roof that's higher in the back to accommodate two standing mountain bikes. The Big Bend trim comes with straps on the seat backs, similar to hiking backpacks, for storing items such as water bottles.

Both the Bronco and Bronco Sport will offer an off-road cruise control feature that works at up to 20 mph driving forward and 6 mph in reverse along trails.

The rear of the Bronco Sport comes with liftgate LED floodlamps meant to make storing cargo at night easier. A five-way folding cargo management system can double as a shelf or a slide-out working table. It also comes with a flip-glass rear window.

Like the bigger Bronco, the Badlands and First Edition versions of the Bronco Sport come with washable rubber flooring throughout the cabin and cargo area, along with silicone rubber switches.

The Bronco Sport will not come with Sync 4. It will be equipped with the current Sync 3 system, featuring an 8-inch touch screen.

Sales plans

Ford has big plans for its Bronco family of vehicles. Before the coronavirus hit, executives told dealers it expected to sell 200,000 vehicles in 2021. Officials said they expect to sell more four-door Broncos than two-doors.

Grueber said the pandemic hasn't changed the company's plans.

"The customer for Bronco and Bronco Sport is a bit different than the mass market," he said. "Interest is still extremely strong."

And that family is set to expand. Ford plans a Bronco-based pickup in 2024. Hackett said in 2019 that Ford would offer a hybrid version of the Bronco, but officials wouldn't confirm specific plans.

The Bronco will enter a midsize SUV segment stung by the coronavirus pandemic but still dominated by Jeep, which enjoys some of the industry's most loyal owners. U.S. sales in the segment are down 23 percent so far this year. The Jeep Wrangler, which set a sales record of 240,032 in 2018, leads with more than 96,000 vehicles sold in the first half of 2020, down 18 percent from a year earlier.

The compact crossover segment in which the Bronco Sport will compete declined 23 percent in the first six months of 2020. It's led by the Toyota RAV4.

Photo gallery - https://www.autonews.com/cars-concepts/ford-aims-road-success-2021-bronco-bronco-sport

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[Red Horse]

Stock up 3.14% as of 11AM.  It better be up given the amount of money they have in this thing.  In an age of condensed specs geared  to packages the option list looks huge.

[Maxidyne]

But seriously, one has to question Ford's "Icon" marketing strategy- The original Bronco was dropped because it never sold over around 25k units a year, only once has a Bronco sold over 100k units and that was in the late 70s. Ford's other "Icon", the Mustang, hasn't sold over 100k a year in the last decade. 100k vehicles a year is generally the break even point for anything selling for less that luxury car prices, a lot of those Mustangs sell for under $30k, and even if Ford can hold Bronco prices close to list most will sell for $30-40k. The only way Ford can pay back the billion dollar investment in the Bronco is to sell that 100k plus vehicles a year, the whole market for this class of vehicles is 250k vehicles in a good year and FCA's Wrangler pretty much owns it. Wrangler customers are notoriously brand loyal, good luck peeling off 50k a year, and any Bronco sales beyond that will just cannibalize other Ford products.

And Ford killed off the Fusion that sold over 100K a year without even trying for this?

[kscarbel2]

The original Bronco was not an icon........then.

It "became" an icon.......over time.

Fortunately, Ford corporate not only acknowledges this, but also sees the vast potential to profit from it.

[Maxidyne]

The Bronco as an icon survived pretty much into the 21st century in the minds of a few thousand enthusiasts who preserved them and sentimental old gearheads like me that knew that it was a better vehicle than the Jeep CJ or Scout. In trying to build a viably large following for the minor icon that was the Bronco, Ford media has embelished the truth and made it up when that wasn't sufficient to lead the millennials to believe that Ford invented "overlanding" vehicles in the 60s. Apparently Ford media has conveniently forgotten Land Rover which they used to own and well as the Nissan Patrol and Toyota Land Cruiser that predated the Bronco.

Maybe next time Ford decides to revive an icon they'll pick something other than a dead horse that they themselves dispatched decades ago...

[Red Horse]

10 hours ago, Maxidyne said:

But seriously, one has to question Ford's "Icon" marketing strategy- The original Bronco was dropped because it never sold over around 25k units a year, only once has a Bronco sold over 100k units and that was in the late 70s. Ford's other "Icon", the Mustang, hasn't sold over 100k a year in the last decade. 100k vehicles a year is generally the break even point for anything selling for less that luxury car prices, a lot of those Mustangs sell for under $30k, and even if Ford can hold Bronco prices close to list most will sell for $30-40k. The only way Ford can pay back the billion dollar investment in the Bronco is to sell that 100k plus vehicles a year, the whole market for this class of vehicles is 250k vehicles in a good year and FCA's Wrangler pretty much owns it. Wrangler customers are notoriously brand loyal, good luck peeling off 50k a year, and any Bronco sales beyond that will just cannibalize other Ford products.

And Ford killed off the Fusion that sold over 100K a year without even trying for this?

Complete dumbass move.  But classic Ford-develop a nice package, then ignore it.  I see more Fusions around my  neck of the woods I'm surprised the annual sales figure wasn't higher-actually I think it was closer to 200 vs. 100.  And its sister the MKZ?  I  have a 3.0T AWD.  It averages close to 25 mpg.  On a road trip, with a heavy foot it will do 28 MPG.  Not bad for 400HP.  And again, a great car IMO that was never advertised

[Red Horse]

10 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

The original Bronco was not an icon........then.

It "became" an icon.......over time.

Fortunately, Ford corporate not only acknowledges this, but also sees the vast potential to profit from it.

Talk about Icons..  Ever notice how many ads you see that feature Early Broncos?  My son actually had his used in a recent ad shoot.  They shot a total of 4 days. His is the Brown/tan one in the picture of mine that I recently posted.

[Maxidyne]

Product placement...

BTW, has anyone else noticed how jealously Ford guards trademarks they haven't used in decades- Heck, the toy tractor makers even have to license Ford tractor models 30 years after Ford sold off the tractor business! Is Ford going to bring back the "iconic" 8N and Louisville? Heck, this "icon" strategy might not be a bad thing, until it bankrupts Ford!