2020 Ford Bronco CONFIRMED!

ZaneWayne said:

As long as it has a 2 door option, with a legit 4x4 system, I may buy my first ford.

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2700 posts and you have never owned a mustang or even a ford for that matter?

Why even bother with this forum?

NowhereFast said:

The Bronco needs to be a fullsize truck. That almost seems to be the entire appeal of the old ones. A BOF, SUV, with real off road capabilities. Unibody trucks are not trucks, they're station wagons with a lift kit IMO.

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I like the earlier, smaller Broncos a lot more than the "OJ" Broncos. I'm not that interested in a full size version.

The early Broncos are small with a full frame and a V8 engine crammed in. That's what Ford should build, not a big, overweight and under-powered rig. In my opinion it should be just slightly larger than an Escape, but with a big engine and full frame.

dron_jones said:

2700 posts and you have never owned a mustang or even a ford for that matter?

Why even bother with this forum?

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Because people enjoy talking.

Hack said:

I like the earlier, smaller Broncos a lot more than the "OJ" Broncos. I'm not that interested in a full size version.

The early Broncos are small with a full frame and a V8 engine crammed in. That's what Ford should build, not a big, overweight and under-powered rig. In my opinion it should be just slightly larger than an Escape, but with a big engine and full frame.

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I'm of essentially the same opinion. There's no market for a 2-door, full size SUV, and a 4-door is the Expedition. For those claiming the later is too large, well, that's because the F-150 is equally too large for all intents and purposes. No, if Ford wants to do justice to the Bronco name - and find a reasonable market for it - they'll return it to its roots.

With that said, they'll never build a business case on a 2-door, convertible mid size vehicle based on a truck chassis. You can be certain that they noticed the upshot in Wrangler sales when the model finally offered a 4-door - that's where the volume is. And they'll need to capture that volume to justify the project. I suppose that by platform sharing with the Ranger and offshore Everest, they could present Bronco to the US market as a 2-dr only, but they'd be consigning it to the same fate as the FJ Cruiser. I think that the only hope of getting a 2-dr Bronco is if there is also a 4-dr model to be the volume leader. They need soccer moms and posers to buy them as well as enthusiasts to make it viable...

The Raptor, Bronco, GT500 and possibly a Lightning will all share the CPC version of the 5.2. Still a change the GT500 uses its own displacement, like 5.4 or 5.5.

EXP Jawa said:

With that said, they'll never build a business case on a 2-door, convertible mid size vehicle based on a truck chassis. You can be certain that they noticed the upshot in Wrangler sales when the model finally offered a 4-door - that's where the volume is.

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From TopNotch's link it seems like Ford's marketing people agree with you. Oh well, I've always known that I'm the odd person and my tastes don't follow the norm. I might buy a 4 door, non convertible SUV. I wouldn't completely rule it out. I'm really a lot less interested in that, than a 2 door with a removable top, though.

However, one argument for my side is the example of the aftermarket for 60s through mid 70s early Broncos. The aftermarket makes almost every piece for that vehicle. There are people out there (IKON) building Broncos and selling them for well over $100,000. But yet there's no market.

Kind of like there was no market for a pony car until the genius of Iacocca figured out how to capitalize..

edit: maybe if the back two doors were somewhat hidden into the styling like a supercab pickup. That would be the best of both worlds with 2 door styling but the convenience of 4 doors for those unlike me who want 4 doors.

Hack said:

However, one argument for my side is the example of the aftermarket for 60s through mid 70s early Broncos. The aftermarket makes almost every piece for that vehicle. There are people out there (IKON) building Broncos and selling them for well over $100,000. But yet there's no market.

Kind of like there was no market for a pony car until the genius of Iacocca figured out how to capitalize..

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There are a couple of key differences here - there's a big difference in building a business case to build a few hand built, aftermarket vehicles for big dollars versus a business case that will lead to 50K+ per year volumes at normal purchase prices.

Also, Iaccoca essentially invented a new market segment, and managed to check all the boxes that happened to gel well with what the market was becoming. OTOH, 2-door SUVs have had their chance, and the market moved away from them. I doubt a "magic" combination of features is going to appeal enough to reignite it.

As I said before, IMHO the only hope for a 2-door version is that a 4-door will do the bulk of the heavy lifting with sales. But with that said, we still don't have the 3-door Fiesta ST here, and that body actually exists elsewhere. FWIW, the discussion TopNotch linked to indicated that a Wrangler Unlimited was the benchmark. That's good, from an off-road functionality view, but also points at the new SUV being 4-door. I'd actually be OK with that - I'll have to replace my Grand Cherokee with something similar someday. Just not with the Bronco name on it (unless there's a 2-door as well)...

Egh... I just can't see a 4 door Bronco. At that point it's just another Explorer. Maybe the mainstream market will eat it up, but the core fans who love a 2 door *truck* will have a harder time plunking the money down. I guess we'll see when they start leaking designs.

Well, except that the Explorer is a glorified AWD Taurus wagon. The Bronco would be an off-road oriented truck; no matter the door count, they're aimed at two very different segments. FWIW, something that struck me as humorous (for the wrong reasons) - Ford could call the new Ranger-based 4 door SUV the "Bronco", and name the 2-door version "Bronco II"... Though I'd sooner see it dubbed "Bronco Sport", or maybe "Baja Bronco".

We've got an Explorer Sport. I've driven a Taurus wagon. I can assure you they're not even in the same worlds. lol

the way i imagine this is Toyota 4runner vs. Toyota Highlander, both are 4 door SUV's yet there is a heavy offroad truck like bias to one model over the other. I think there is room in the lineup for this even with the explorer. Big question for me is looks, a key design element of the bronco was the short wheelbase and the high stance like a jeep. I hope they can replicate this in the new generation as well

It looks badass, but it also looks like it's going to be expensive.

FranzVonHoffer said:

It looks badass, but it also looks like it's going to be expensive.

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the pictures unfortunately are just enthusiast renderings, nothing official

EXP Jawa said:

Well, except that the Explorer is a glorified AWD Taurus wagon. The Bronco would be an off-road oriented truck; no matter the door count, they're aimed at two very different segments. FWIW, something that struck me as humorous (for the wrong reasons) - Ford could call the new Ranger-based 4 door SUV the "Bronco", and name the 2-door version "Bronco II"... Though I'd sooner see it dubbed "Bronco Sport", or maybe "Baja Bronco".

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That's hilarious. I have an Explorer Sport and a family member had a Taurus...they are not even close. The Explorer Sport IS an Explorer minus the extra door a few inches. I can tell you no Taurus can do what my Explorer has done in snow, off-road, etc.

SR56 said:

We've got an Explorer Sport. I've driven a Taurus wagon. I can assure you they're not even in the same worlds. lol

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Agreed. Not even in the same solar system.

EXP Jawa said:

There's no market for a 2-door, full size SUV, and a 4-door is the Expedition.

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Ford must not be listening to their marketing reps at the auto shows. One of the things I've had multiple Ford people at the shows tell me when I ask them when we'll see a 2-Door Explorer again is that they get asked that question all the time at shows...people asking about a 2 door SUV....so there's a market for them...most likely it's a younger gen that doesn't mind not having 2 extra doors but still likes the ability to seat 5.