Right-hand-drive Bronco? Ford CEO drops huge hint
Ford’s CEO says producing a right-hand-drive Bronco is “worth a try”, suggesting the retro-styled SUV – which shares its platform with the Ranger – could finally go global…
After a 25-year pause, the Ford Bronco nameplate was revived in 2020, though the long-awaited 6th generation of this off-roading SUV went into production exclusively in left-hand-drive form. But that could finally be changing, based on fresh comments from the man at the very helm of the Blue Oval brand.
Yes, Ford CEO Jim Farley recently suggested to Car UK that the Bronco – which shares its platform with the Ranger bakkie and Everest adventure SUV – could finally be built in right-hooker guise, following in the footsteps of the Mustang.
“The big Bronco will do right-hand drive and I think it’s worth a try,” Farley told the publication, seemingly suggesting the retro-styled ladder-frame SUV could be pitched against the likes of the unibody Defender in the United Kingdom.
Making reference to the Dearborn-based firm’s sale of Land Rover (and Jaguar) to Indian company Tata Motors back in 2008, Farley added: “We had a break-up with a marriage there. The next step is to go dating again, right?”.
The 62-year-old executive explained that “Ford never funded enthusiast products”, adding that “they were always a side business” but “now with Mustang, Raptor and Bronco, they’re our business”.
Back in 2020 after the vehicle’s reveal, Bronco chief designer Paul Wraith told Ford Authority that though the company had “optimised” the SUV for left-hand drive, it was open to doing “all sorts of things in the future”. He furthermore pointed out that since the Bronco was effectively a Ranger underneath, the platform “is capable of right-hand drive”.
While Ford builds the Bronco alongside the Ranger at its Michigan facility in the United States, Jiangling Ford Auto – the American firm’s joint venture with Jiangling Motors in China – recently started producing Chinese-spec units at its Nanchang factory.
If the right-hand-drive Bronco project were indeed to go ahead, we’d speculate that this plant would be the more likely of the 2 to be tasked with production for markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia and potentially even South Africa.
So, should the project receive the green light, will we finally see the Bronco in South Africa? Well, only time will tell, though it’s worth noting Ford still holds the Bronco trademark locally. First registered back in 1965, the company has faithfully renewed this trademark since, never allowing it to expire.
As a reminder, the Bronco is available in the United States in both 2- and 4-door guise, offered exclusively in turbocharged petrol form. Engine options include the brand’s 2.3-litre 4-cylinder unit, a 2.7-litre V6 motor and a 3.0-litre V6 lump, with the latter reserved for the Bronco Raptor (a close relative of the Raptor-based Ranger). China, meanwhile, currently builds only the 4-door version with the 4-cylinder engine.
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