2024 Ford Bronco Sport Drops Base Trim

[ice-capades]

2024 Ford Bronco Sport Drops Base Trim

https://fordauthority.com/2023/07/2024-ford-bronco-sport-drops-base-trim/

 

 

Entering its fourth model year of production, the 2024 Ford Bronco Sport remains largely unchanged, save for the addition of a couple of new packages and the typical shuffling of exterior color options. However, the rugged crossover is getting one big change for the new model year – the 2024 Ford Bronco Sport will no longer be available in Base trim form, as the Big Bend has now become the lowest-priced, entry-level trim in the lineup.

 

This change has already been reflected in the build and price configurator for the 2024 Ford Bronco Sport, as the Base trim is no longer listed at all, while the Big Bend features a starting MSRP of $31,230, sans destination and delivery charges. This also means that the Bronco Sport will effectively cost customers more – even though they’re getting more features – as the Base model for 2023 featured a starting price tag of $29,215 without destination and delivery factored in.

 

Aside from this major change, the 2024 Ford Bronco is gaining a pair of new exterior paint colors and two enticing new options – the Black Appearance Package and the new Free Wheelin model. As one might have gathered by its name, the Black Appearance Package – which is offered in conjunction with the Big Bend trim level – adds a Carbon Black front grille, two-tone Bronco lettering, matte black 17-inch wheels, matte black hood graphics, a Shadow Black-painted roof, black accent trim, and a smoked chrome Blue Oval badge. Inside the cabin, the package includes Sport Contour seats and a modified air bag cover, which features a black bucking Bronco badge for added effect.

 

Meanwhile, the Bronco Sport Free Wheelin brings back a popular package from the 1970s that adds reflective red, orange, and yellow gradient graphics on the hood, sides, and liftgate, along with painted Shadow Black steel wheels with red accents, a Shadow Black roof, a silver-painted grille with two-tone Bronco badging, as well as a modified lower front end insert. Inside, the special model features Black Onyx and Dark Space Gray treatment with sunset-colored seat inserts, red and orange pinstriping on the dash and seats, and Race Red C-channel trim for the door panels as a way to bring that retro theme inside.

Edited July 31, 2023 by ice-capades
Additional Content

[akirby]

Outside of fleet vehicles like work trucks and vans I never understood the need for base models.

[Rangers09]

41 minutes ago, akirby said:

Outside of fleet vehicles like work trucks and vans I never understood the need for base models.

 

Back in my early work days I bought a couple of base models. For a daily driver to work, going at least 100 mls each day, all I wanted was an AM/FM radio. Couldn't care about resale, as I put about 200,000 miles on them, then replaced it with the cheapest most fuel efficient base model small car available. My base model Festiva from the late 80's/early 90's was the best car I even bought.

[akirby]

18 minutes ago, Rangers09 said:

 

Back in my early work days I bought a couple of base models. For a daily driver to work, going at least 100 mls each day, all I wanted was an AM/FM radio. Couldn't care about resale, as I put about 200,000 miles on them, then replaced it with the cheapest most fuel efficient base model small car available. My base model Festiva from the late 80's/early 90's was the best car I even bought.

Of course it makes sense for a buyer who wants the absolute cheapest vehicle with zero options.  But it doesn’t make sense for Ford when the base version of the next model up is almost the same price.

 

Take Explorer - XLT is only $1800 more than a base model and includes the following upgrades.

 

 

[HotRunrGuy]

13 minutes ago, akirby said:

Of course it makes sense for a buyer who wants the absolute cheapest vehicle with zero options.  But it doesn’t make sense for Ford when the base version of the next model up is almost the same price.

 

Take Explorer - XLT is only $1800 more than a base model and includes the following upgrades.

 

Agreed. For those of us that don't need to impress the neighbors, that 200A Explorer can be a good deal.

 

HRG

[jpd80]

Sounds like the take rate was low enough to drop in the next round of parts ordering from supplier. Makes sense if Ford has a ton of high series customer orders to build, every build place occupied by a less popular trim build is a space that Ford can’t use for one of those higher trim orders.

[bzcat]

Ford is selling Bronco Sport as a premium product so the base model never made a whole lot of sense. Ford has Escape for people that want a cheaper vehicle. Or Maverick for that matter.

 

Base model on Bronco I get... there are some people who like to build their own offroader with aftermarket parts and starting from base model without the factory upgrades makes sense. Also Ford doesn't want you to defect to a base Wrangler instead. These are not concerns on Bronco Sport. 

[ExplorerDude]

Make no mistake, this was a deliberate decision to force customers into higher priced and more expensive trims, even if it’s just one trim level up that’s a little more expensive.
 

Ford is going to be dropping various “Base” trims on multiple vehicles very shortly. The company is going to start transitioning from a “Chevy price” to more of a “GMC price” on lots of models moving forward.
 

This is all happening because Ford can’t figure out how to take cost and complexity out effectively, so prices of product will continue to go up to make up the differences. The disfunction is getting out of control….

Edited July 31, 2023 by ExplorerDude

[DeluxeStang]

7 hours ago, akirby said:

Outside of fleet vehicles like work trucks and vans I never understood the need for base models.

It makes it easier for cash strapped families to afford a new car. About 8 years ago, we were looking at something to replace our Kia Sedona, which had basically been a problem child since day 1. We looked at some used cars, but even before the used car pricing boom, they were somewhat pricy. 

 

An explorer sport with about 70-80k miles on it for instance was in the high 20s, low 30s. Many other 7 seater crossovers were similar in size. I sat my parents down, and said "While we can buy a car with a more powerful engine, and more tech, that car is going to become a liability sooner rather than later. For a comparable price, we can buy a brand new car, with no issues, an extensive warranty, and the most reliable engine found in the 2011-19 explorers. The only trade off is having less features". It was an easy choice, especially considering used cars are cursed. 

 

For many budget minded consumers, it's either a used car, or a base model new car. To some, they say, it's just another 3 grand, 5 grand, 10 grand to have a car with more options, and they're right. But for a lot of people, they can't stretch their budget that far. 

[jasonj80]

Well they decontented the crap out of the 2024 to basically make the big bend a base, No more key pad(on any trim), no /push button start, no heated wiper park, no heated mirrors on big bend. 
 

Fords way to make vehicles more reliable and hit 8% margins is just not build them with any features. Hey we have a hit, how can we F*** it up and make more money on it. Delete features and make some appearance packages! The direction of this company with the constant deleted features and smoke and mirrors marketing is getting really bad.
 

Wondering how bad the F150 and Explorer updates will actually be because it seems it will be putting lipstick on a decontented pig. 

 

 

 

[GearheadGrrrl]

Problem is that most of Ford's vehicles are "commodities", so if Ford drops a low price trim some buyers will just buy a lower priced competitors vehicle instead. Price matters, and several times Ford and GM have lost a sale to me because the feature I wanted like a Diesel engine was only available with a high end trim level.

[akirby]

2 hours ago, jasonj80 said:

Well they decontented the crap out of the 2024 to basically make the big bend a base, No more key pad(on any trim), no /push button start, no heated wiper park, no heated mirrors on big bend. 
 

Fords way to make vehicles more reliable and hit 8% margins is just not build them with any features. Hey we have a hit, how can we F*** it up and make more money on it. Delete features and make some appearance packages! The direction of this company with the constant deleted features and smoke and mirrors marketing is getting really bad.
 

Wondering how bad the F150 and Explorer updates will actually be because it seems it will be putting lipstick on a decontented pig. 

 

 

 

Is that because executives are demanding higher margins but product engineers are trying to achieve that by decontenting and reducing models at the expense of volume and overall profit?  I could totally see that happening without a balanced scorecard.

[akirby]

1 hour ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

Problem is that most of Ford's vehicles are "commodities",

I don’t think you understand what that really means.

[GearheadGrrrl]

I've made enough money in the stock market to know damn well what "commodity" means. While the F series has huge customer loyalty and some features that set it apart in the market, fleet customers will switch brands for less than a thousand dollars price difference and even Ford loyalists have their price. I was seriously tempted by the F series with the 3 liter diesel while they offered it, but no long bed option which was a deal killer. Ram half ton with their 3 liter diesel was over $10K less, but no long bed either. Looked at the Canyon/Colorado diesel, but available with only higher level trims so no deal too. 

[akirby]

8 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said:

I've made enough money in the stock market to know damn well what "commodity" means. While the F series has huge customer loyalty and some features that set it apart in the market, fleet customers will switch brands for less than a thousand dollars price difference and even Ford loyalists have their price. I was seriously tempted by the F series with the 3 liter diesel while they offered it, but no long bed option which was a deal killer. Ram half ton with their 3 liter diesel was over $10K less, but no long bed either. Looked at the Canyon/Colorado diesel, but available with only higher level trims so no deal too. 

Fleet trucks may be commodities but not retail trucks.  Not F150 or Super duty or mustang or Bronco or Bronco sport or Maverick or Explorer or Expedition or Ranger.  And none of the Lincoln’s.  Escape and Edge are borderline which is why 1 is dead and the other is on death row.

 

Commodity implies many competitors with very little differentiation with lowest price being the primary driver resulting in super low margins.

[ice-capades]

21 hours ago, akirby said:

Of course it makes sense for a buyer who wants the absolute cheapest vehicle with zero options.  But it doesn’t make sense for Ford when the base version of the next model up is almost the same price.

 

Take Explorer - XLT is only $1800 more than a base model and includes the following upgrades.

 

 

 

That $1,800 price difference between the base model and the XLT translates into an additional $50/month on average for the potential buyer and can make the Explorer XLT unaffordable for some buyers, especially considering the impact of rising interest rates and/or Dealer pricing policies. That additional $1,800 may help Ford regarding its profit margin objective but hurts at the dealership level. I'm ignoring the supply chain issues which are subsiding on a continuing basis and shouldn't be a factor for much longer. 

 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic impact, supply chain issues, additional commodity constraints, plant constraints, reduced stock inventory, etc. dealerships have dramatically reduced or eliminated their advertising over the past few years. As the inventory situation stabilizes, the market will start to behave as it did traditionally and dealerships will start advertising again to compete with both their competitive Ford dealerships and other brands and models.

 

Those base models may be a very small part of the production and sales mix, but they serve an important role in dealership advertising and sales. They allow dealerships to advertise those base models at very attractive prices versus competing Ford dealerships as well as competing brand models. You don't get a chance at repeat sales or increasing the owner body if you can't sell them the first time which is a concept that Ford ignores.

 

My dealership was one of the top 10 Thunderbird dealers for years, marketed as "Birdland", and used base model Thunderbirds advertised at $8,888 in the mid 80's. We only advertised Thunderbirds, knowing that with our dominating market position that potential customers for other models would come to us assuming that we'd offer similar deals on the rest of the Ford model lineup. We stocked at least 100 T'Birds and mystery shopped our competing Connecticut Ford dealerships, that would stock 3-4 T'Birds, to find that they would literally refer customers to us because we were "Birdland". They didn't even try to compete with us! 

 

Unfortunately, when Ford introduced the all-new 1989 Thunderbird, the prices increased by thousands of dollars because of all the "New" standard equipment that was added to the base model. Sales plummeted and it was the start of the death for the Thunderbird as it just wasn't competitive or attractive to customers anymore. It was priced out of the market and no longer considered by buyers.

 

My opinions are based on 35 plus years' experience in both marketing and inventory management. There are far too many management layers at Ford with many of those executives more invested in protecting their job security instead of making decisions on what's best for the company long term. Vehicle pricing matters at the dealership level and the small number of base models produced has little impact on production but has a big impact at the dealership level which benefits Ford long term.  

[rperez817]

14 hours ago, jasonj80 said:

Fords way to make vehicles more reliable and hit 8% margins is just not build them with any features. Hey we have a hit, how can we F*** it up and make more money on it. Delete features and make some appearance packages!

 

In last week's call with investors to discuss 2Q 2023 results, Jim Farley said "we made sure Ford is profitable as we move through this ICE-to-EV transition". Looks like the way Ford is accomplishing that goal is exactly what you mentioned - decontenting combined with pricey appearance option packages for Ford Blue products like Bronco Sport. And for Bronco Sport specifically, eliminating base trim.

Edited August 1, 2023 by rperez817

[silvrsvt]

44 minutes ago, ice-capades said:

Unfortunately, when Ford introduced the all-new 1989 Thunderbird, the prices increased by thousands of dollars because of all the "New" standard equipment that was added to the base model. Sales plummeted and it was the start of the death for the Thunderbird as it just wasn't competitive or attractive to customers anymore. It was priced out of the market and no longer considered by buyers.

 

How much of that was shift in the market? 

 

As for the decontenting-I went from a loaded out 2013 SHO to a Big Bend Bronco, which is pretty much a base model with a leather wrapped steering wheel. Personally I don't miss the cooled seats and Alcantara seats that the SHO had. Cars are "so well equipped" these days that higher end models give nothing more then fluff for everyday use. Yeah I would have liked the bigger screens and extra cameras, but I really didn't need to spend another $5-7K to get them either. 

[ice-capades]

15 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

How much of that was shift in the market? 

 

The impact was driven by the new pricing structure which drove the price upwards by at least $2-3,000. The sales impact was immediate with sales plummeting and never recovering. 

[rmc523]

13 hours ago, akirby said:

Is that because executives are demanding higher margins but product engineers are trying to achieve that by decontenting and reducing models at the expense of volume and overall profit?  I could totally see that happening without a balanced scorecard.

 

Ford really needs to watch the decontenting.  Customers are beginning to notice, and they keep pulling more and more out of various models.

[silvrsvt]

38 minutes ago, ice-capades said:

 

The impact was driven by the new pricing structure which drove the price upwards by at least $2-3,000. The sales impact was immediate with sales plummeting and never recovering. 

 

Going by the sale charts it was in terminal decline for a while and much of it I'm assuming was propped up by incentives or fleet sales.

 

[akirby]

7 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

Ford really needs to watch the decontenting.  Customers are beginning to notice, and they keep pulling more and more out of various models.

Especially repeat buyers finding features missing that they had in the past.

[rmc523]

4 minutes ago, akirby said:

Especially repeat buyers finding features missing that they had in the past.

 

And, on top of that, competitors have some of the features they've removed standard .

 

Mulally's mentality of best in class with the best features available needs to return.

 

I get it's more difficult to have a lot of features others don't have, but NOT having the features isn't the way to go.

[akirby]

1 hour ago, ice-capades said:

 

That $1,800 price difference between the base model and the XLT translates into an additional $50/month on average for the potential buyer and can make the Explorer XLT unaffordable for some buyers, especially considering the impact of rising interest rates and/or Dealer pricing policies. That additional $1,800 may help Ford regarding its profit margin objective but hurts at the dealership level. I'm ignoring the supply chain issues which are subsiding on a continuing basis and shouldn't be a factor for much longer. 

 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic impact, supply chain issues, additional commodity constraints, plant constraints, reduced stock inventory, etc. dealerships have dramatically reduced or eliminated their advertising over the past few years. As the inventory situation stabilizes, the market will start to behave as it did traditionally and dealerships will start advertising again to compete with both their competitive Ford dealerships and other brands and models.

 

Those base models may be a very small part of the production and sales mix, but they serve an important role in dealership advertising and sales. They allow dealerships to advertise those base models at very attractive prices versus competing Ford dealerships as well as competing brand models. You don't get a chance at repeat sales or increasing the owner body if you can't sell them the first time which is a concept that Ford ignores.

 

My dealership was one of the top 10 Thunderbird dealers for years, marketed as "Birdland", and used base model Thunderbirds advertised at $8,888 in the mid 80's. We only advertised Thunderbirds, knowing that with our dominating market position that potential customers for other models would come to us assuming that we'd offer similar deals on the rest of the Ford model lineup. We stocked at least 100 T'Birds and mystery shopped our competing Connecticut Ford dealerships, that would stock 3-4 T'Birds, to find that they would literally refer customers to us because we were "Birdland". They didn't even try to compete with us! 

 

Unfortunately, when Ford introduced the all-new 1989 Thunderbird, the prices increased by thousands of dollars because of all the "New" standard equipment that was added to the base model. Sales plummeted and it was the start of the death for the Thunderbird as it just wasn't competitive or attractive to customers anymore. It was priced out of the market and no longer considered by buyers.

 

My opinions are based on 35 plus years' experience in both marketing and inventory management. There are far too many management layers at Ford with many of those executives more invested in protecting their job security instead of making decisions on what's best for the company long term. Vehicle pricing matters at the dealership level and the small number of base models produced has little impact on production but has a big impact at the dealership level which benefits Ford long term.  

I completely understand the benefit to advertising.  But I have a hard time believing that more than a handful of retail buyers are opting for a base model Explorer with no options or that $30/month (1800/60) plus interest is enough to kill a sale on a $38K vehicle.  I could see that being more of an issue on a Fiesta or maybe even a Maverick but with 72 and 84 month loans it should not be a deal breaker.

 

My main objection to all these options and packages is it makes it almost impossible to find a vehicle in stock in the right color and trim and powertrain with all the options you want.  I went through this with the last 3 vehicles.  On the MKX we ended up foregoing the technology package which we really missed.  On my F150 I actually found 2 with exactly what I wanted but those were the only 2 within 100 miles.  On the Nautilus we had to compromise on the engine but got everything else (and the 2.0Leb is perfectly fine).  At least stock more fully loaded trims.

[ice-capades]

17 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Going by the sale charts it was in terminal decline for a while and much of it I'm assuming was propped up by incentives or fleet sales.

 

 

Retail sales declined a bit, but hardly terminal, during the '87 and '88 Model Years but it was after the 1989 Thunderbird was introduced with the massive increase in standard equipment and the dramatic price increases that had the most dramatic effect on retail sales. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by ice-capades