Why the New Bronco Will Beat Wrangler
For Decades, Jeep Wrangler Faced No Competition. With a New Bronco Coming, Those Days Will Soon Be Over
We barely know anything about the new Bronco, but that didn’t stop our pals over at our brother site JK Forum from taking a preemptive jab at it in a recent column. But you really can’t blame them for getting a tad bit worried. After all, the Wrangler hasn’t faced any real competition in a long, long time. Long before a lot of Wrangler enthusiasts were even born.
But there’s a reason why the masses have been whipped into a frenzy over the prospect of a new Bronco, even before Ford confirmed it. This is a legendary nameplate, one that enjoys a massive following despite being out of production since 1996. Fans practically beat Ford’s door down begging them to build it again, and the Internet explodes every time a new detail emerges.
So you can’t blame Jeep fans for getting perhaps a little bit jealous of the attention. And even though we really don’t know what to expect with the new Bronco, we do know that Ford intends to renew the once fierce rivalry between it and the Wrangler. Here are a few reasons why we think they will succeed.
1. Ford sells more cars and trucks than Chrysler, and it isn’t even close
Ford’s F-Series once again retained it’s crown as the best selling truck in America in 2016, for the 40th consecutive year. It’s also been the best selling vehicle, period, for 35 years straight. The F-Series outsold the Ram 820,799 to 489,418 in 2016 alone. Overall, Ford sold nearly 400,000 more cars and trucks than Chrysler in 2016. The reason is simple – they build better vehicles, including seriously capable trucks.
2. Ford builds more reliable vehicles than Chrysler
You’ve undoubtedly heard water cooler talk about the many reliability issues Chrysler and Jeep have faced over the years. But there’s a lot of truth behind that gossip. In 2016 alone, Jeep ranked 23rd out of 29 brands in Consumer Reports’ 2016 reliability ratings. Chrysler as a whole fared even worse, taking up the 26th-29th spots. Ford, on the other hand, came in 18th.
3. Ford seems serious about taking on the Wrangler this time
Despite the rumors that the new Bronco might just be a rebadged Everest, Ford brass have insisted that it will be a serious off roader. In fact, it might even utilize the same Dana solid axles that the Wrangler also uses.
4. Ford obviously knows how to build world beating off road vehicles
The new Raptor is good. Like really, really good. And you know what every single review of Ford’s performance truck glows about? How ridiculously capable it is off road. If even a smidgen of that engineering makes it to the new Bronco, look out.
5. Jeep has gotten too complacent over the years
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that almost every Wrangler build over the last several decades looks the same? Heck, the biggest style change was a switch back to round headlights years ago. While it’s true that sometimes you shouldn’t mess with success, Jeep might wind up paying the price if the new Bronco proves to be a substantially better product out of the gate.
