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Bronco Returning


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The UAW contract specifies a single new product at MAP for 2018 and a 2nd vehicle around 2020 (which is assumed to be the Bronco). Ranger should be the priority product.

 

Since we haven't seen evidence of a new Ranger or Bronco in development, I think the timeline is a little optimistic.

Edited by BORG
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When people say.."no evidence of new vehicles in development", if you assume the vehicles are T-6 Ranger and the "Everest"-with whatever label you want, I would have to think "One Ford" was a consideration in the design /engineering process. As such, how much "development" should be required to "federalize"?

 

Or am I dreaming that there was that much forward planning?

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I would not be too concerned about not seeing a Ranger or Bronco in development. If they are all new then at this point they are disguised as mules on existing bodies, or they are just existing designs to be assembled at Wayne.

 

Ford has been exceedingly good at hiding prototypes the past 5-7 years.

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When people say.."no evidence of new vehicles in development", if you assume the vehicles are T-6 Ranger and the "Everest"-with whatever label you want, I would have to think "One Ford" was a consideration in the design /engineering process. As such, how much "development" should be required to "federalize"?

 

Or am I dreaming that there was that much forward planning?

 

 

It's very likely the Ranger will enter the US with a new generation product and not a 6-7 year old design. If Ranger is developed in Australia, you would see evidence of it there. But if Australia does the work on the US Ranger, it would be a first for a North American product since One Ford is split into regional development with Australia only handling Asia/Pacific.

Edited by BORG
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^ It certainly would seem like a missed opportunity to bring back an iconic nameplate on such an outdated platform.

Go big or go home. The last thing Ford should be striving for is to be an: "Also-ran"

 

 

I also can't believe this won't have some decent or dare I say serious off-road capability. Between the Escape, Edge, and Explorer.... does Ford really need ANOTHER pedestrian utility vehicle? And at the expense of heritage and "BRONCO" loyalists?

Edited by probowler
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It's very likely the Ranger will enter the US with a new generation product and not a 6-7 year old design. If Ranger is developed in Australia, you would see evidence of it there. But if Australia does the work on the US Ranger, it would be a first for a North American product since One Ford is split into regional development with Australia only handling Asia/Pacific.

Ranger is sold in over 120 markets, the only notable exclusions are Canada and USA.

So the development work was much more than just Asia Pacific.....

 

As of this time last year Ford AP was well into development of the next Gen Ranger

but this time North America is in as a stakeholder at the beginning - that makes all the difference.

I would consider the current product cycle as the ultimate dress rehearsal before Ranger goes prime time.

 

Keep in mind the key people running the project come from Ford NA,

Jim Baumbrick was posted to FAPA in 2008 and headed up the T6 Ranger project

while Todd Hoevener, the chief technical officer overseeing the Explorer project

then came to Melbourne to lead the Everest project..

Edited by jpd80
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I also can't believe this won't have some decent or dare I say serious off-road capability. Between the Escape, Edge, and Explorer.... does Ford really need ANOTHER pedestrian utility vehicle? And at the expense of heritage and "BRONCO" loyalists?

 

I don't think that Bronco loyalists are like Mustang people...but I do think Ford has a good enough grasp on its history that the new Bronco won't be just the Ecosport rebranded in NA LOL

 

I'm not a huge SUV/CUV fan myself, but if the Bronco is around the size of a Edge/Escape and gets decent gas mileage with a 2.3L Ecoboost with AWD...the practicality and hopefully the styling will be enough to win me over to get one. I just have to have to have two Ponies in the driveway...a Bronco and a Mustang (hopefully GT350 :p)

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^ It certainly would seem like a missed opportunity to bring back an iconic nameplate on such an outdated platform.

Go big or go home. The last thing Ford should be striving for is to be an: "Also-ran"

 

 

I also can't believe this won't have some decent or dare I say serious off-road capability. Between the Escape, Edge, and Explorer.... does Ford really need ANOTHER pedestrian utility vehicle? And at the expense of heritage and "BRONCO" loyalists?

This is what I've been saying-how many "same 'ol" crossovers do we need.

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My facebook feed says 99k 110k people are already talking about the Bronco based on that one UAW rep's comments (which probably earned him an angry phone call from a Ford exec--unless they approved the leak)

 

I would not have thought we'd see a point where the Bronco nameplate has more effective demand than the T-bird, but, well, here we are.

Edited by RichardJensen
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I would not have thought we'd see a point where the Bronco nameplate has more effective demand than the T-bird, but, well, here we are.

 

The Bronco has been out of production for 20 years, the T-bird has been out of production 11 years...I actually see quite a few of the LS based T-birds running around out there.

 

Plus a 2/4 door SUV has more mass appeal then a 2 door sporty coupe.

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I just hope we are not in for a Ford version of the Jeep Renegade. Don't think we are, but can't be too sure about anything these days.

 

There has been rumors that GMC is looking to introduce a Wrangler competitor as well, and perhaps adding a little fuel to that fire is that AM General was proposing such a vehicle just before the shutdown of Hummer. Story is a lot of engineering work had been done on the SUV (H4?) before it was shelved, and GMC is going to resurrect the program. If that's true, Ford very much needs to have a competitor, and 'Bronco' is the obvious name for it.

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