Ford is Bringing the 90’s Back

It’s the year 1966. A seventeen year old boy has just made the biggest investment of his life yet.. He saved up his earnings from summer jobs and after school chores, and he finally bought himself a truck. His brand new 1966 Ford Bronco is Arcadian Blue, with the most uncomfortable bucket seats that ever were, and the 200 cubic inch straight six monstrosity under the hood makes about fifteen miles to the gallon. On the bright side, he only paid 2200 dollars for it or around 16 000 dollars today. Despite the flamboyant blue paint, cramped seating, and the engine that drinks more than a middle aged man in Cuba, he loves his truck.

Progress to 1996, thirty years and five generations of Bronco later. Ford announces the discontinuation of the beloved truck. The Bronco just couldn’t keep up with Chrysler’s Jeep division, and ford wanted a vehicle to compete with the Chevy Tahoe and the GMC Yukon, and so, the Bronco was discontinued to make way for the Ford Expedition. To clarify, the Ford Bronco was originally an ORV, or Off Road Vehicle, designed to compete with the small Jeep CJ, and the International Harvester Scout, and it sold nearly 24 000 units in its launch year. It was a small truck with a short wheelbase, making it obsolete for towing anything. It had plenty of options, to make the Bronco whatever the buyer wanted it to be. Among some of the options were bucket seats, a CB radio, an auxiliary gas tank, and even a posthole digger, along with the options for better tires, and a bigger engine.

This past January, at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, Ford officially announced that in 2020, Ford’s Michigan assembly plant, where the original Bronco’s were built, will start pumping out Broncos once again. The Bronco’s replacement, the Ford Expedition, became a crossover SUV in 2011, leaving a spot open for the Bronco, a small, off road vehicle, capable of being a daily driver or a hobby truck. Joe Hinrichs (1), president of the Americas for Ford Motor Company, announced the reincarnation of the Bronco at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. “This is a no compromise, mid size, 4x4 utility, for the thrill seekers who want freedom and off road functionality, with the space and versatility of an SUV”(2).

The question is, do we really need a new Bronco? Ford drivers loved the Bronco, and it was one of the most iconic North American trucks of all time, lasting an impressive thirty years. The truck was revived due to the enormous amount public demand for the Bronco.To paraphrase Joe Hinrichs words during the announcement of the revival of the Bronco name, for years, you couldn’t go on any Ford forums without seeing masses of fans demanding that the Bronco make a comeback. In 1966, the Bronco was one of three or four vehicles like it, and it was a completely original design for Ford, unlike the mustang,which was comprised of the frame and suspension of a Ford Falcon. These days though, there are many variations of trucks similar to the Bronco, like the Toyota 4Runner, and the Jeep Wrangler. Plus, ford already has an off road truck, the Ford F-150 Raptor edition.The Bronco is best known for how customizable it was, with dozens of options from the factory, including a removable soft top roof, and a rare “U13” edition with no rear gate, doors, or roof. There was also a cornucopia of aftermarket parts designed to fit the Bronco. This made the Bronco synonymous with adventurous youth, looking for an off road vehicle.

Ford should also worry about, is who is going to buy this truck, or better yet, who do they want to buy it? The Broncos of old were a big hit with younger drivers, due to their off road capability, and the wide array of performance and appearance options.Today, vehicles aren’t made with customization

in mind, and they certainly aren’t what most high school students can afford. When the Bronco rolls off the factory lot, it will be stepping into the ring with some tough competitors, and will have to be priced competitively to sell enough units to be a success. People are guessing the new Bronco will cost

anywhere from 20 000 dollars, to 35 00 dollars, which is a tremendous amount of money for a first car.

That price tag means the Bronco will have to be something you can daily driver, which would stray away from the origins of the beloved truck. Ford will have to come out hard, with options galore, to appeal to the young enthusiast market that cemented the Bronco as a cult classic. If the Bronco comes out as a plastic toy, with only a couple of appearance packages, it would make more sense to just buy a classic truck instead, for a much lower price.The Bronco is going to need a serious engine upgrade to compete. No more in-line six engines, people are going to want the Bronco to have some power behind it. The classic 5.0L V8 Ford drops into it’s GT Mustangs would certainly please the fans.

Ultimately, Ford is bringing the Bronco back but it is unclear if that was the right decision, similar to everytime McDonald's brings back the “McRib”. The Ford Bronco is the McRib of the automotive industry: Underappreciated when it’s available, craved when it’s gone, and pumped back out by company presidents who want to please the masses, but are too lazy to come up with something new. The Fans will have to wait to see whether the 2020 Bronco turns out to be as successful as it’s predecessor. Youth may flock to the Bronco the way they did in the sixties. Ford may choose to drop a big, brutal, barking engine into the Bronco, giving it serious street cred. No one really knows, the Bronco could flop, and be the modern example of the Ford Edsel, described as the biggest failure in automotive history. While all the variables are yet to be seen, ford fanboys can at least take some comfort in knowing that Ford knows what they want, and that they will soon be seeing a familiar friend on city streets, back roads, and rocky desert hills.

(1) https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/people/joe-hinrichs.html

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmxC1vYbM7s