Can Ford's Bronco take on Jeep's Wrangler?

Thursday, 9 July 2020

Josh Gracin texted Thad Szott in an attempt to get on a buyer list for the 2021 Ford Bronco.

Gracin, whose father worked at a Johnson Controls plant making car seats for General Motors, followed his dream of becoming a successful country singer with more than a million records sold and a No. 1 single after debuting on 'American Idol”.

But there is no list for the Bronco yet, not even for country music singers in Nashville.

'People are so excited to get their hands on the Bronco,' said Thad Szott, co-owner of Szott Auto Group in White Lake Township, Mich.

**READ MORE:

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'Every time I post something on my social media to let them know the timeline, I get about 10 people begging me to get them on the list. But they have to go to the Ford website and pick a dealer. But people are, like, 'Please help me.' '

It's not just hype, he said, 'it's so real.'

These are buyers who see themselves as outdoorsy and adventurous or people whose parents had a classic Bronco, which was built from 1966 to 1996 and now gets top dollar among collectors.

'I've always wanted one as a kid growing up in Westland, Mich.,' Gracin wrote in an email to the Detroit Free Press during a break at the recording studio this week.

'The Bronco is iconic in so many ways - from off-road, to just your afteroon drive with friends, with the roof off and plenty of summer sun. Before I could drive, Bronco production was discontinued and the stars have never aligned for me to own one. I'll be jumping online as soon as they are available to reserve.'

The big reveal for the 2-door and 4-door Broncos and smaller Bronco Sport is next Monday in partnership with Disney.

The new model has been in the works for years, with Ford executives promising Wall Street analysts it will be a big deal. The Dearborn, Mich., automaker has made it clear that the company plans to go after the market dominated by the Jeep Wrangler.

'These are the free spirits, the wind-in-the-hair type folks,' Szott said. 'This is an emotional vehicle, similar to Jeep Wrangler. Bronco demand is going to exceed supply, no doubt. It's new. It's exciting. It's sexy. When you start removing the tops from vehicles, it creates all this emotion. Friends out of state want me to get them on a list but there is no list.'

But loyalty to Jeep can't be underestimated.

Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader.com, said, 'Jeep has been capitalising on their heritage for decades, and not in name only. Jeep has proven that a genuinely capable adventure/utility vehicle with a nod to the past is what many people want. And that's what the Bronco promises, if they can deliver an authentic product and, more importantly, communicate that authenticity laced with nostalgia, it will be a winner.'

He added, 'The Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator are exactly the kinds of vehicles current shoppers, young and old, want - both GenX and GenZ. The Wrangler puts them exactly where they want to be, out and away, immersed in nature, not likes, news feeds, data and crowded cities.'

So carving into the Wrangler consumer group won't be easy.

Ford knows what it's like to sit on top as the maker of the bestselling Ford F-150 and F-Series pickup trucks. Ford has had that title since forever, just like Jeep has dominated the off-road segment for more than half a century.

A spokesman for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined to comment for this story.

Auto industry experts say asking people to leave Jeep is like asking people to convert religions.

'Wrangler's on fire,' Szott said. 'We're one of the bigger Wrangler dealers in the Midwest. We're literally going to sell out and not have a new supply for, like, a month. We're probably going to be out in 30 days. The demand has never diminished and factories shut down for six weeks because of coronavirus.'

Since restarting in May, business has been a 'frenzy,' he said. 'The pace is maddening. I can't believe what we did in June. True Jeep people are going to stay Jeep people. Jeep is like an extension of our personality. Other cars are just like transportation.'

Getting competition from the Bronco will make the Wrangler even better and is great for the market, said Szott, who sells far more top of the line Jeep Wrangler Rubicon models than he does the cheaper Wrangler Sport model.

'They're way sexier with bigger, beefier tyres, a 2-inch lift on the vehicle from the factory,' he said. 'It just looks more bad-ass and it's designed specifically for off-road purposes' like rock crawling and muddy trails.

While a majority of buyers will never go off-road, most like to have the option, Szott said.

'We probably have 30 Wranglers left and that's less than a 30-day supply for us,' he said while delivering a vehicle to Gaylord. 'What's happening is the used Wrangler market is on fire now. We're doing everything we can to get our hands on used Jeeps, and vehicle prices are appreciating. There was a vehicle we were looking at online at auction, a Jeep Wrangler, and we bid $4,000 over the average selling price and we didn't get it.'

Szott Auto Group, which has four dealerships that sell new Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Ford and Toyota vehicles plus all makes and models of used vehicles, sold 706 vehicles in June - exceeding the monthly average of 550. The top sellers are trucks and SUVs, led by Ram 1500 and Jeep Compass. He travelled the state this week to check on Wrangler supplies and found other dealers running low or empty.

Jeff King, vice president and general manager of Bozard Ford Lincoln in St. Augustine, Fla., said people have been waiting impatiently for the Bronco.

'The excitement level is pretty high,' he said. 'I think we'll get more orders for the Bronco the day of the launch than we did for the Mustang Mach-E. I think we got eight to nine orders. The Bronco fits our market a whole lot better. And I think we're going to get some converts, but it will take a little bit of time.'

King, 56, said he plans to order a Bronco as a daily driver.

'It's a game-changer for me. Now I can take the top off. It'll make it a vehicle I'll drive,' he said. 'I've been driving a Mustang convertible for years. Now I have a (2018) GT convertible.'

This new off-road vehicle puts Ford 'into a completely different market,' King said. 'The catchphrase when they introduced Bronco was 'Beat Jeep' - two years ago. With over 200 employees, we've got more than a dozen Jeeps in our employee parking lot. There is nothing else that does what those vehicles do off-road. And they own that market. I know we'll get half of those (Jeeps) … Jeep people will have to wait and see what it's going to look like. They're not committal yet. But we're excited. It's been a long time coming.'

Jeep Wrangler has seen steady sales in what Ford calls a 'growing' off-road category, according to data from Cox Automotive:

• 202,266 Wranglers in 2015

• 191,774 in 2016

• 190,522 in 2017

• 240,032 in 2018

• 228,042 in 2019

• 96,131 Wranglers from January through June 2020 (including a two-month shutdown)

'With Jeep Wrangler sales looking unstoppable the past several years, Ford wants to return the favour in the serious off-roader segment,' said John Wiley, manager of valuation analytics at Traverse City, Mich.-based Hagerty, the world's largest insurer of collector vehicles.

'As values of vintage Broncos have climbed over the past decade, Ford knows it has a large group of hungry Bronco fans out there,' he said. 'Over the past five or six years, the market for vintage Broncos has taken off. People spend between US$100,000 and US$200,000 on first-generation resto-mod Broncos. With the launch of the new Bronco, Jeep's status as an icon won't change, but Ford has long built innovative vehicles that resonate across generations. The new Bronco may be the latest in that line.'

But the legacy of Jeep is deep, dating to World War II.

It's what made a Chrysler merger so desirable to Fiat years ago.

Ford has not released images of the all-new Bronco yet, but its Bronco R Racing prototype gives a hint of what to expect. No prices are available.

The smaller Bronco Sport, built in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, is expected to go on sale at the end of 2020. The Bronco, built by UAW members at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, is scheduled to go on sale in the spring of 2021.

Ford has declined to disclose its sales goals.

'We'll match production to meet customer demand for the all-new Bronco,' said Mike Levine, Ford North America product communications manager.

Ford executive Kumar Galhotra told CNBC on Tuesday that the Bronco brand will 'add substantial volume to the company, and they're going to be growth volume because none of the vehicles exist today.'

Ford sees a 'very large part' of Bronco consumers being new to the company, said Galhotra, president of the Americas and international markets group.

But market analyst Jon Gabrielsen questioned whether Ford can penetrate the off-road market enough to recover the company's multibillion-dollar investment.

'Everybody wants the Bronco brand to do very well,' he said. 'But Ford is seeking to sell substantial volume into a very small market segment that is dominated by Jeep - one of the strongest brands in the world, with 70 years of experience improving its off-road capability, coveted by fiercely loyal fans who frankly would rather fight than switch. We're hoping the new Broncos will be as successful as their ancestors.'

On Monday, Ford will debut its Bronco SUV lineup with three 3-minute videos airing across ABC, ESPN and the National Geographic channel at 8 p.m. Disney owns ABC and co-owns ESPN and National Geographic.

At the same time, Ford's new lifestyle brand will also premiere its Bronco family reveal video on Ford.com and YouTube.