The general rule for inquiries into things like colors and custom manufacturing is to sort of smile, and say stuff like "take it into consideration."
Since I've only posted twice here, it would most likely be smartest for me to just sort of stick to that.
So here it is: "Bestop always appreciates input from customers, especially those of you who are true enthusiasts. Our Bronco product line is really a part of our ongoing efforts to help you keep fantastic vehicles on the road. We're a small enough company that I can easily get your feedback to the right places, and I will always do that. Keep those comments coming!
See? Vague promises, no real action. Compliment you on your vehicles, to try and turn the conversation back around.
But, you know, kinda crap.
If you want a tiny bit more insight, I can give it to you. This gives you the opportunity to beat up on me a bit. Pick apart my arguments and points. We can have fun!
OK then:
Keep in mind that our head sales guy would put a price tag on his mother's walker and sell that if he could make a profit. There's no strategy/brand loyalty/snobbery going on here. It's just profits.
We dropped a lot of the legacy colors simple due to demand. Or lack thereof.
YOU think it's a huge demand, because you know lots of people in the clubs and forums. But it's small. The entire Bronco market is small, and gets (sadly) smaller each year.
Black is one SKU, and it takes care of 80+ percent of the demand (a bit lower than that for old school stuff, probably, but higher for newer Wranglers - they really prefer black).
Why is it hard to create additional SKUs? Well, we don't sell direct. So we need to make a bunch of anything to "fill the pipeline" - stock the retailers, warehouses, etc.
And, we need to dedicate very precious manufacturing time and space.
It means we really need big, fast moving SKUs.
True, this means we're nowhere near as nimble as other vendors. That's a competitive disadvantage to any large company, not just ours. Colgate can't make premium soap and get it into every store nationwide very quickly or easily. So a local hippie can make it for the farmers market and maybe do well (in this analogy, our competition is the dirty hippie -- just a little joke!)
Custom manufacturing:
I personally would love this. I really push for this.
It would be AWESOME to be able to order a top in your color and fabric. Maybe get a custom embroidered tag.
But right now we're not keeping up with the demand for TJ and JK tops. We released a couple of new generation tops last year, and demand caught us flatfooted. It's one reason I'm hiding out here instead of spending time on WranglerForum.
Suggesting something like complicated custom work right now? Won't get listened to. We need to get a better handle on our core business, which is late model Wrangler tops.
Skin only: We're more open to that now than in the past. We sell the skins for other Jeep tops. I need to get a better answer for why we don't for Broncos.
Cheers!
PS:
Picked up my Bronco today. 1976. Fuel injected 5.0 from a truck. Really well built. 4 speed. No rust. Bad, but serviceable paint job.
Needs sliders and lockers, and I want to go from 33's to 35's.
Let's hope it passes emissions tomorrow (Boulder County, Colorado).