No New Bronco (or F-100) - from Ford SVT Racing engineer

[FerrumCampitor]

While at a closed event to get a close and personal look at the new Ford SVT Raptor (you can read about that here: http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136792), I of course asked the Ford engineers about the chance of the new Bronco coming to life. He said, in no uncertain terms, that the new bronco was dead.

The main reason - the government! The bronco would require a unique build platform and frame. They don't have any current platform that they could build it on and actually have it be the Bronco everybody wants - a real off-road capable vehicle, not just some retro bronco styled Ford Escape. And the problem with that is that the Gov requires no fewer than 26 frames be crash tested. The frames cost around $400k each because they are handmade to exacting specs. So you're looking at about $10.5 million JUST for crash testing!! No wonder cars are getting so expensive. He said that if they can convince the government to allow computer model crash testing instead, then it would open up the market for niche vehicles like the Bronco and then we'd have a good chance of seeing one.

I also asked him about the F-100 rumors, saying that we thought the bronco might have a chance of being built on the F-100 platform. He said that there are still some people at Ford trying to keep that dream alive, but they aren't having an easy time of it.

So there you have it.

 

[ep67bro]

Well that sucks!!!

 

[tinytim02]

disappointing, but not surprising.

 

[BRONCOchild]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[fatboy]

No wonder the big three can't make any headway.

 

[73stallion]

can't say i'm surprised either.....

 

[Ohio Bronco 21]

Our Government is the Problem

 

[mustangtoby]

I'm not surprised, but it still pisses me off!

 

[tasker]

well, thanks for asking anyway!

 

[t.lay]

granted our gov can be a huge obstacle, but following that logic, either no one would risk building anything new or Ford doesn't believe there's a market for it. They found the money to squash a few GTs when the ecomomy was cooking along (I'm guessing those chassis cost a few bucks more than a bronco frame). No new designs - expect another round of diminished market share.

 

[sstlaure]

The big problem is the low-volume nature of how a true Bronco would sell in the marketplace. You're talking a vehicle that would be about the same cost as a Wrangler Rubicon, but without the lower level base vehicle to support the development. Jeep isn't even selling very many base Wranglers these days, nevermind Rubicons.

The crash testing is a small part of it - typical vehicle programs cost upwards of $500 Million to fully tool and develop. It's not just the vehicle itself, but all of the support systems needed to make the parts, ship the parts, assemble the parts into a vehicle, etc. On top of that you have the CAFE requirements (which are only getting more stringent) making it increasingly difficult for manufacturers to add cool (but admittedly low mileage) vehicles to market. In it's heyday the Bronco only sold 25,000 units in a single year. In fact, from 1966-1977 roughly 250,000 Broncos were built in total over the 11 year period. For reference - we sold twice that many F-Series pickups just last year. You need that kind of volume these days to pay off the tooling/development required due to the higher standards vehicles are developed to today.

The Ford GT sold for $150K a pop - I can almost guarantee Ford didn't make any money on that car. (Hell - the 2 Superbowl ads probably wiped out any chance of profit) It was meant as an aspirational vehicle to show what can be done when you say "damn the profits - we want to build a supercar."

Unfortunately Ford can't afford to make ANY cars/trucks that aren't profitable these days. No one can.

It does suck - as a Ford Engineer - I would love to work on the development of a real Bronco.

 

[FerrumCampitor]

They have to have several vehicles that share the same platform to recover the development costs. Ford doesn't have anything that would fit the Bronco design we all want. I was hoping that maybe with the F-100 and Bronco, they could share a platform and justify their creation. Looks like that idea is out for the foreseeable future.

 

[SACHEM]

So if the F-100 is dead and the Ranger is set to die, what is ford going to compete with in the small truck market?

I've been planning on getting rid of my lightning and getting a f-100 but I will not buy a ranger. Looks like I'm going to have to import when the time comes.

 

[Dan's73]

If the R&D in that one area is the holdup, it's a shame Ford couldn't just buy/license the frame from Land Rover for the D90/110's. That's already been through the govnmt ringer and would be easy to build a solid platform around. I only considered 2 other vehicles before I bought my '73: an old FJ40 and a D90...both very respectable & capable, IMO, and close to what the EB is.

 

[Cooter_76]

So if the F-100 is dead and the Ranger is set to die, what is ford going to compete with in the small truck market?

I've been planning on getting rid of my lightning and getting a f-100 but I will not buy a ranger. Looks like I'm going to have to import when the time comes.

X2 My next truck will likely be a Taco

 

[Case]

they could use the frame and drivetrain out of the superduties, drop a modified escape body onto it and then you would have a fun toy.

 

[sean lalley]

that sucks

 

[sstlaure]

Don't rule out the Ranger just yet.

 

[t.lay]

X2 My next truck will likely be a Taco

There's my point.

 

[ken75ranger]

Don't rule out the Ranger just yet.

That would be good market to be in when gas prices surge again.