Photo: Ford
Just before Ford took the veils off the all-new Bronco, the Blue Oval told U.S. dealers that it’s based on the mid-size truck platform of the next-generation Ranger. Primarily developed in Australia, the Ranger will be available in right-hand drive while the Bronco isn’t coming to the Land Down Under or the United Kingdom because it is exclusively LHD.
Speaking to Cars Guide, the automaker’s president and chief executive officer for the Aussie market has confirmed the inevitable. According to Andrew Birkic, “there is no RHD Bronco.” Sinead Phipps, the international market group corporate communications officer, added that “you have to make money out of it. You have to have enough customers ready to buy it.”
Birkic also told Cars Guide that Aussie buyers won’t be offered the Bronco Sport, which is a shame as well because it’s based on the Escape that is offered in right-hand drive in the Oz and New Zealand. Adding insult to injury, Ford made the case for the Bronco Sport Wildtrak in Brazil where the median wage is much lower than Australia’s median wage. Looking at the bigger picture, the reason why the crossover is coming to Brazil is the 2-million yearly new-vehicle market as opposed to 920k for Australia.
The Ford Motor Company, however, may be overly cautious with the Bronco family of models. Jeep imports the Wrangler and Gladiator with right-hand drive in this part of the world, so why can’t the Blue Oval? As Phipps said, all we know is there’s not enough demand for the Bronco twins.
It’s also worth highlighting that Ford is focused 100 percent on the U.S. market now because it has roughly 125,000 orders to fulfill for the mid-sized Bronco alone. The compact crossover is a commercial success in its own right stateside, moving 23,356 copies in the first quarter of the year.
In addition to Australia, NZ, and the UK, the Japanese and South African markets won’t receive the Bronco either because the projected sales are not enough to offset the costs of engineering these SUVs for RHD.
Birkic also told Cars Guide that Aussie buyers won’t be offered the Bronco Sport, which is a shame as well because it’s based on the Escape that is offered in right-hand drive in the Oz and New Zealand. Adding insult to injury, Ford made the case for the Bronco Sport Wildtrak in Brazil where the median wage is much lower than Australia’s median wage. Looking at the bigger picture, the reason why the crossover is coming to Brazil is the 2-million yearly new-vehicle market as opposed to 920k for Australia.
The Ford Motor Company, however, may be overly cautious with the Bronco family of models. Jeep imports the Wrangler and Gladiator with right-hand drive in this part of the world, so why can’t the Blue Oval? As Phipps said, all we know is there’s not enough demand for the Bronco twins.
It’s also worth highlighting that Ford is focused 100 percent on the U.S. market now because it has roughly 125,000 orders to fulfill for the mid-sized Bronco alone. The compact crossover is a commercial success in its own right stateside, moving 23,356 copies in the first quarter of the year.
In addition to Australia, NZ, and the UK, the Japanese and South African markets won’t receive the Bronco either because the projected sales are not enough to offset the costs of engineering these SUVs for RHD.
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