Ford aims for off-road success with 2021 Bronco, Bronco Sport

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co., resurrecting a historically popular nameplate with modern amenities such as a trail-mapping system and 360-degree camera views, aims to attract a new generation of overlanding enthusiasts with the first members of the Bronco family of off-roaders.

The 2021 Bronco SUV and Bronco Sport crossover signify a new direction for the automaker as it aims to wrest back a slice of the market long ago ceded to rivals -- particularly Jeep. Under CEO Jim Hackett, Ford is pruning its lineup to focus on more profitable vehicles that elicit more emotion and passion from customers.

It expects the pair of rugged utilities — unveiled Monday directly into the living rooms of would-be buyers via primetime introductions on ESPN, National Geographic and ABC — to do just that.

Under development for the past half-decade and arriving nearly 25 years after the last Bronco departed, the sixth-generation SUV will serve as the flagship for a new off-road subbrand. It will be built on the same platform as the Ford Ranger midsize pickup, come in two-door and four-door variants and offer tires as big as 35 inches. Its modular chassis — featuring removable doors and roof panels — lends itself to customization, allowing dealers to generate additional profit through a redesigned and expanded accessories business.

It goes on sale next spring, Ford said, priced from $29,995, including shipping, for the base two-door Bronco.

The most-expensive Bronco, a special first edition, is priced from $60,800, including shipping, Ford said. Reservations for the First Edition model were full by late Tuesday morning, according to Ford’s website.

The unibody Bronco Sport, which shares a platform with the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair compact crossovers, is meant for customers who may not want as extreme an adventure, but it will nonetheless offer four-wheel-drive capability and a slew of off-road features.

"Bronco has always been about adaptability," said Mark Grueber, Ford's consumer marketing manager for the Bronco. "Our family of Broncos is designed to provide ideal choices to meet all of our customers' needs better than we have before."

The unveiling, which was delayed by three months and converted into a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic, marked the culmination of more than three years of teasing and hype-building since Ford confirmed the Bronco's revival at the 2017 Detroit auto show.

The Bronco comes standard with a 2.3-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost engine that's expected to generate 270 hp and best-in-class 310 pound-feet of torque. Ford also has used that engine in vehicles such as the Ranger, Focus RS and Mustang.

Buyers can upgrade to a 2.7-liter V-6, which Ford has been testing in a Bronco R race prototype, that's expected to generate a best-in-class 310 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque.

A 10-speed automatic transmission is optional, while a seven-speed manual is standard. The manual can only be paired with the 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine.

The Bronco will come with two 4x4 systems: a base system with a two-speed electronic transfer case and an optional advanced system with a two-speed electromechanical transfer case, a Dana solid rear axle and an independent front differential unit. Its maximum ground clearance is a best-in-class 11.6 inches, Ford said.

In a nod to its past, the new Bronco comes with seven G.O.A.T. (goes over any type of terrain) modes: Normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery and Sand, Baja, Mud/Ruts, and Rock Crawl. The first-generation Bronco was nicknamed G.O.A.T. by Donald Frey, who was a Ford executive when it debuted in 1966.

The SUV offers a number of features meant to appeal to off-road enthusiasts. It has rubberized flooring with drains and optional plugs, allowing users to simply hose it down to clean away dirt, mud or sand. Switches on the instrument panel are made with silicone rubber parts that can get wet.

Optional marine-grade vinyl seats are water-resistant and mold-resistant, which Ford says is an industry first.

The interior also includes a number of hand grips, emblazoned with the Bronco name, to hold onto for stability while riding off-road.

"Trail sights" — raised black bars on the hood — can help navigate uneven terrain and double as tie-downs for canoes or other items stored on the roof.

The back has a side-swinging gate with a built-in bottle opener and a slide-out tailgate.

On four-door models, the removable doors can be placed in protective bags and stored in the back — an advantage it's trying to build over the rival Jeep Wrangler.

The roof also is removable, in three sections on the two-door model and four on the four-door version. The vehicle was designed to have an "open-air" roof, without the traditional crossbar found between the front and rear seats.

The four-door Bronco has a standard cloth soft top, while hard-top options exist for both the two-door and four-door versions. A Sasquatch off-road package includes 35-inch tires, 17-inch wheels and other features.

Ford plans to offer 200 accessories when the vehicle launches next year.

"There's no such thing as a standard Bronco because every Bronco is now different," chief designer Paul Wraith said. "With one hour and a wrench, you can strip this truck almost down to its bare bones and replace or upgrade different components."

The Bronco will get Ford's next-generation Sync 4 infotainment system, which can be updated over the air and also will be available on the upcoming F-150 pickup and Mustang Mach-E electric crossover. The Bronco comes with either a standard 8-inch or optional 12-inch center screen and an LCD instrument cluster. A 360-degree camera system can provide "spotter views" for additional visibility when drivers crawl over rocks and other difficult terrain, Ford said.

A trail-mapping system will let users track and share their off-road experience.

"It works online or off on either of the navigation-capable 8- or 12-inch Sync systems," Grueber said, "allowing users to select one of hundreds of available curated trail maps to map out and then track, capture and share their adventures with others."

The vehicle will come in five trims above the base model: Big Bend, Black Diamond, Outer Banks, Wildtrack and Badlands. Ford also will offer 3,500 First Edition units.

Officials said the Bronco would arrive at dealerships next spring.

For months before the official name was revealed, the Bronco Sport was unofficially known as the "baby Bronco."

The crossover will be smaller than its off-road sibling, but Ford says it's still plenty capable. In fact, developers based the design on the 2004 Bronco SUV concept.

"The guys who love the Bronco Sport also love the Bronco — it's just too much for them," Wraith said.

Officials say the Bronco Sport will target competitors including the Jeep Compass and Honda CR-V. As with the Bronco, Ford designed the Bronco Sport to be highly customizable, planning more than 100 accessories when it launches this year.

"Every inch of it was designed and engineered with weekend adventurers in mind," said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's product development and purchasing boss.

The Bronco Sport, on sale later this year and priced from $28,155, including shipping, will be powered by a standard 1.5-liter EcoBoost engine that gets 181 hp and 190 pound-feet of torque. There's an optional 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine that gets 250 hp and 277 pound-feet of torque.

Both engines are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Bronco Sport will come in base, Big Bend, Outer Banks and Badlands trims, as well as 2,000 First Edition variants.

Developers took special care to differentiate the Bronco Sport from the vehicles with which it shares a platform.

"Bronco Sport is not an Escape with big tires," said Mark Aguirre, chief program engineer.

The vehicle's wheelbase, ground clearance and independent front and rear suspensions are unique. Ford tested the vehicle in Borrego Springs, Calif., the same location where it hosted the media drive for the original Ford F-150 Raptor.

It comes with 4wd and has a number of drive modes, similar to the Bronco: Normal, Eco, Sport, and Slippery and Sand, with additional Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl modes on Badlands and First Edition models.

The interior comes with a number of features catering to active customers, including a safari-style roof that's higher in the back to accommodate two standing mountain bikes. The Big Bend trim comes with straps on the seat backs, similar to hiking backpacks, for storing items such as water bottles.

Both the Bronco and Bronco Sport will offer an off-road cruise control feature that works at up to 20 mph driving forward and 6 mph in reverse along trails.

The rear of the Bronco Sport comes with liftgate LED floodlamps meant to make storing cargo at night easier. A five-way folding cargo management system can double as a shelf or a slide-out working table. It also comes with a flip-glass rear window.

Like the bigger Bronco, the Badlands and First Edition versions of the Bronco Sport come with washable rubber flooring throughout the cabin and cargo area, along with silicone rubber switches.

The Bronco Sport will not come with Sync 4. It will be equipped with the current Sync 3 system, featuring an 8-inch touch screen.

Ford has big plans for its Bronco family of vehicles. Before the coronavirus hit, executives told dealers it expected to sell 200,000 vehicles in 2021. Officials said they expect to sell more four-door Broncos than two-doors.

Grueber said the pandemic hasn't changed the company's plans.

"The customer for Bronco and Bronco Sport is a bit different than the mass market," he said. "Interest is still extremely strong."

And that family is set to expand. Ford plans a Bronco-based pickup in 2024. Hackett said in 2019 that Ford would offer a hybrid version of the Bronco, but officials wouldn't confirm specific plans.

The Bronco will enter a midsize SUV segment stung by the coronavirus pandemic but still dominated by Jeep, which enjoys some of the industry's most loyal owners. U.S. sales in the segment are down 23 percent so far this year. The Jeep Wrangler, which set a sales record of 240,032 in 2018, leads with more than 96,000 vehicles sold in the first half of 2020, down 18 percent from a year earlier.

The compact crossover segment in which the Bronco Sport will compete declined 23 percent in the first six months of 2020. It's led by the Toyota RAV4.