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Ford Bronco will ride again, says CEO Mark Fields at Detroit auto show


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completely agree....somewhere in the middle is fine....fingers crossed on the Ranger and Bronco....manuals shouldn't be confined to performance variants, and I think BOTH of those vehicles lend themselves nicely to those that like to row gears...

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complete bullshit, I'll edit later to explain why

*edit*

 

1. His account has now been deleted, that's sketchy in itself

 

2. The manner in which he "verified" his identity. Ford badges all look pretty much the same. It's a Picture, your name and a Ford logo, nothing about job title. I could show them mine and claim I'm lead engineer on some secret new Mustang and probably get away with it long enough to do a Reddit AMA.

 

3. There's a way to confirm without saying too much. He does not accomplish this at all.

 

4. Everything he does say is pretty much just echoing what is out there as rumor here and other places around the internet.

 

I'm pretty sure I could ask this guy if he knows a few people who I personally know (one I'm related to) are or will be working on either the Ranger or Bronco and he wouldn't have a clue who I'm talking about.

Edited by fuzzymoomoo
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complete bullshit, I'll edit later to explain why

*edit*

 

1. His account has now been deleted, that's sketchy in itself

 

2. The manner in which he "verified" his identity. Ford badges all look pretty much the same. It's a Picture, your name and a Ford logo, nothing about job title. I could show them mine and claim I'm lead engineer on some secret new Mustang and probably get away with it long enough to do a Reddit AMA.

 

3. There's a way to confirm without saying too much. He does not accomplish this at all.

 

4. Everything he does say is pretty much just echoing what is out there as rumor here and other places around the internet.

 

I'm pretty sure I could ask this guy if he knows a few people who I personally know (one I'm related to) are or will be working on either the Ranger or Bronco and he wouldn't have a clue who I'm talking about.

Correct, if this was "just a face lifted T6 Ranger and Bronco a custom US body on T6 running gear

then why would Ford be spending four years upgrading the main platform to the degree that it is?

 

While the styling for Bronco may well be done in Nth America but if it's a global vehicle,

you can bet Geelong will be doing the engineering and development of all vehicles.

 

The MT in Transit is shared with Mustang (2WD) and Ranger 2WD & AWD.

 

He didn't say whether the Ranger's body is growing in width like Colorado,

that would be a necessary consideration when designing Bronco.

 

Ranger crew cab with a longer bed is almost a given for North America

 

(I'm not an employee or attached to the project.)

Edited by jpd80
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If nothing the electronic driving aids should be easy to disable. I find them irritating on my truck at times and it is not a simple flick of the switch to disable all of them what I want to.

Some reason I keep thinking the Raptor has a quick off switch for a lot of the vehicle nannies. So when you go off road they don't cause problems.

 

Anyone know for sure?

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So Im wondering if Ford would consider a re alignment of its Utilites to have a soft road and off road

in the three main segmants:

Compact

- Escape (Wheelbase grows from 105.9" to 107.9"?)

- Bronco 2 Dr (108" WB)

 

Mid Size

- Edge (112")

- Everest (112")

 

Full Size

- Explorer (Grows from 112" to 117")

- Expedition (118")

 

Perhaps Ford see adding rugged Utilities as the key to growing valuable niches

that may become more main stream with the right encouragement.

 

A larger Explorer would help to increase Ford's presence in the large Utility market.

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So Im wondering if Ford would consider a re alignment of its Utilites to have a soft road and off road

in the three main segmants:

Compact

- Escape (Wheelbase grows from 105.9" to 107.9"?)

- Bronco 2 Dr (108" WB)

 

Mid Size

- Edge (112")

- Everest (112")

 

Full Size

- Explorer (Grows from 112" to 117")

- Expedition (118")

 

Perhaps Ford see adding rugged Utilities as the key to growing valuable niches

that may become more main stream with the right encouragement.

 

A larger Explorer would help to increase Ford's presence in the large Utility market.

I don't see the point in utilizing the Everest name in America when it could just be a 4-door Bronco like the Wrangler Unlimited is to Wrangler. The two Vehicles would have to radically be different for this to make sense imo, and e already have plenty of pavement pounders.

 

And it's not like there's never been a four door Bronco before.

Edited by probowler
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Some reason I keep thinking the Raptor has a quick off switch for a lot of the vehicle nannies. So when you go off road they don't cause problems.

 

Anyone know for sure?

Tap the traction control once and its off but still kicks in. Tap it twice you get advance track sport mode which gives you a higher threshold on electronic stability control and traction control, but it isn't a high threshold, and will kick in. I haven't figured out how to turn off roll stability control, which is a fun killer at times. After doing all this tapping all the nannies kick back on if you go above 35mph. Turn the truck off and everything returns to default, which is all sensors on.

 

The only way to disable all sensors is to put the truck in 4 low.

 

Sadly you just can't turn everything off with one flick of the switch in 2 wheel drive or 4 high.

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So Im wondering if Ford would consider a re alignment of its Utilites to have a soft road and off road

in the three main segmants:

Compact

- Escape (Wheelbase grows from 105.9" to 107.9"?)

- Bronco 2 Dr (108" WB)

 

Mid Size

- Edge (112")

- Everest (112")

 

Full Size

- Explorer (Grows from 112" to 117")

- Expedition (118")

 

Perhaps Ford see adding rugged Utilities as the key to growing valuable niches

that may become more main stream with the right encouragement.

 

A larger Explorer would help to increase Ford's presence in the large Utility market.

 

I think that is already the strategy, except Bronco won't be compact. I'm still assuming Bronco is basically just 5 seat Everest with some styling difference... like 4Runner vs. Prado (I know both are available with 7 seats but I was talking about different styling).

 

 

Midsize 5 seat

CUV Edge

SUV Bronco

 

Midsize 7 seat

CUV Edge

SUV Everest

 

Large

CUV Explorer

SUV Expedition

 

I fully expect the next gen Explorer to grow a few more inches to catch up with CX-9, Traverse, Durango (assuming it sticks around) etc.

 

You can see that Ford currently opted out of the midsize 7 seat segment in North America, probably because CAFE and consumer preference favors the large size (no real penalty to go large vs. midsize 7 seat).

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According to Ford's own press conference and Press Release, the Ranger is just a facelift of the Ranger sold globally so the conversion is very minor. It will feature a new face and US-specific drivetrains which explains why we haven't seen any road-worthy evidence of development going on in Dearborn this close to production. I'm pretty sure the hold up is just freeing up the manufacturing space in the US to make it.

 

I'm still very cautious on what the Bronco actually is, Ford doesn't need another midsize SUV so it has to be something like a Mustang...a niche product that only Ford can sell.

Edited by BORG
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I think that is already the strategy, except Bronco won't be compact. I'm still assuming Bronco is basically just 5 seat Everest with some styling difference... like 4Runner vs. Prado (I know both are available with 7 seats but I was talking about different styling).

 

 

Midsize 5 seat

CUV Edge

SUV Bronco

 

Midsize 7 seat

CUV Edge

SUV Everest

 

Large

CUV Explorer

SUV Expedition

 

I fully expect the next gen Explorer to grow a few more inches to catch up with CX-9, Traverse, Durango (assuming it sticks around) etc.

 

You can see that Ford currently opted out of the midsize 7 seat segment in North America, probably because CAFE and consumer preference favors the large size (no real penalty to go large vs. midsize 7 seat).

Thanks, that's similar to what I've been thinking.

 

I put Bronco in with Escape merely because of its shorter wheelbase and assumed two door body

would probably reduce down the interior space - a bit like a 3-door Hummer H2 if that makes sense...

W

e now know that Cafe favors larger footprint vehicles so I expect Explorer to grow in wheelbase

to keep a bit of fuel economy cushion there and also to supplement Expedition with another

full sized comfortable 3-row SUV that gets great economy but more soft road..

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