Ford's Bronco: Not So Global After All
Relaunching the Bronco is a no-brainer for North America. With credits like Longmire and the O.J. Simpson police chase under its belt, there is just too much buzz around the model not to bring it back. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t have the same rich history with the vehicle — leaving them in the lurch.
The 2020 Ford Bronco will be left-hand drive only, not a global sensation, according to Ford Australia.
“There’s nothing to announce. There are currently no plans in place for a right-hand drive Bronco,” Kay Hart, President and CEO of Ford Australia/New Zealand, told CarSales’ Down Under division.
That’s not to suggest it’ll never get there, though. Kay’s comments came at the launch of the new Ford Endura — which you’ve known for the last year as the second-generation Edge. Sometimes it takes a while for a vehicle to make the rounds and have its steering wheel re-glued to the opposing side, and this appears to be one of those instances.
Hart was asked to clarify if that meant Ford had no plans to introduce the Bronco and yet-to-be-named Bronco Jr. for the Aussie market. “Not currently,” she reiterated. “Clearly it’s going to be a great vehicle, but we are extremely happy with the performance of Ranger here.”
“That’s not to say we don’t continually look at other products within Ford, but Ranger is doing such a fantastic job here. We’re happy with the line-up as it stands, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t look to add to the range in future.”
While Ford might be happy with its current Aussie lineup, its consumers could be another story. The next Bronco seems like just the sort of thing they’d be into — something presenting itself as rugged and is ute adjacent. Unless the Bronco is a miserable failure in North America (unlikely), it seems like Ford would likely want to give it a shot on the Australian market eventually. Ford’s initial announcement even referred to the upcoming Bronco as a “global model.”
While former Ford engineering chief Raj Nair said the Bronco would not be a rebadged version of the Ranger-based Everest SUV, there may still be too much overlap between the two vehicles for the automaker to feel immediately comfortable throwing the Bronco into the mix right away. Australia and other right-hand drive regions will have to wait, regardless. If there truly is no plan for right-hand drive, it’ll take the company some time to get its ducks in row.
We’re sad for Australia but must admit it feels a little good that Ford’s launching a vehicle that, if only for a while, will be exclusively American — even if it’s based on a globetrotting pickup that we only just received.
[Image: Ford Motor Co.]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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161 countries follow the right hand drive system. 75 countries drive on the left side of the road. I remember in the 1960's and 1970's, a whole bunch of countries switched from right-hand-drive to left, then the trend stopped. I do not desire to start a flame war here, but I do not understand why more and more countries do not do this switch. Right-hand-drive makes more sense, and is more intuitive and natural for the majority of the populace. Having all vehicles engineered and assembled with their steering systems on the left would also allow for cost reductions, as carmakers would not have to homologate for left-hand-drive, which trust me, is a PITA for them.
Judging by that rendering, it looks like all they did was take a Jeep Renegade and put a different nose on it.