BBF385 - does Jeep even want to be in the Cherokee market right now? LOL! I honestly don't know what sales figures are, but around here they seem to be getting there lunch eaten by Toyota and the Highlander. It's a completely saturated market.

The aftermarket ALONE for the Wrangler is hundreds of millions of dollars. Aftermarket for the Everest/Bronco shown above will be floor mats.....

 

Just looking at the numbers it looks like the cherokee sold slightly less than the wrangler did last year. About 10K less or thereabouts.

The bronco will flop and be gone in a few years. That's my prediction.



Also, after watching that video posted earlier I would drive 95% of that terrain in my fwd car without hesitation.

 

The Jeep GRAND Cherokee sold 240k in 2017 and that would be the direct size competitor for the Bronco and 4Runner at about 190" long. The Cherokee is a FWD car-based Fiat design with a transverse engine and is an Escape competitor. You seem to confuse vehicle size and segments a lot. But if the Bronco could cannibalize Grand Cherokee AND Cherokee sales that would be a good thing for Ford.

And it sure is possible the Bronco could fail. Most other tough off-road based vehicles like the XTerra, FJ Cruiser, Hummers, Suzuki Samurai, Isuzu Trooper, Mitsubishi Montero, etc, have failed because people buy SUV's to drive to high school and the mall. The Jeep Wrangler is an exception but I contend that most people buy them to wear like clothing, not to use them.

 

Also a 4x4. Have you seen the promotional material for the cherokee? Definately advertised as a 4x4.

 

That is the current background image on the Jeep site.
The current GRAND cherokee is essentially a minivan and advertised as such. I do agree with you that that is what the bronco will be, though.

 

I must have missed the article where they said the grand cherokee is their new market

 

It actually just says cherokee. Yogeorge said grand,

 

The Cherokee is a transverse engined FWD car BASED vehicle like the Escape. If you read all the words the first time you might comprehend. They do add power to the rear axle like all the other small crossovers but are not real 4WD vehicles.

The Everest/Bronco, 4Runner, Grand Cherokee, and Wrangler have engines mounted inline--front to rear--and are inherently RWD vehicles and have traditional transfer cases. I view them as being tougher, more serious offroad-capable 4WD SUV's. (The Mercedes G-Wagon and some of the Land Rover/Land Cruiser vehicles are also in that class but way expensive.) Other vehicles in that class like the Xterra, Isuzu Trooper, Mitsubishi Montero, have died because buyers mostly want comfort.

The Trailhawk version of the GC in particular has etronic locker, air suspension, skidplates, and it is aimed at the offroad market or the offroad "poser" market. Or the macho minivan market Nice talking to you....we can reconvene after the Bronco is introduced--it's gonna be what it's gonna be. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kelleyb.../#511b52db1383

 

I think there is a big head fake going on.
I bet that the new bronco is going to look more like [not exactly] the '04 concept.

Prepare to be shocked!!!!

 

I highly doubt ford would ruin sales by leaking false info

 

The '04 concept was a design study that looked really cool but was built on an Escape platform (aka Mazda 626) so there wasn't much happening in terms of 4WD capability. Ford may use some design cues from it, and that would be fine with me, but it was also 16 years ago.

 

I just looked this up, the Wrangler sold 190-200k units(US only) in each of the last 3 years. In his day and age when vehicles have become so sophisticated that is simply amazing, it is amazing that there are still so many people out there that really don't care how bad the ride is, how loud the wind noise is, and how much extra money they have to spend to make the thing actually perform like the advertising says. Wait... now that I think of it there is a motorcycle company from Milwaukee with the same "problem".
Defies all common sense this does(my best Yoda), yet there it is in black and white and somehow Ford doesn't think there is a market for a legitimate solid axle offroad vehicle.

 

You know what? I'm inclined to agree with McLeod here....

The only worth successor to the Bronco name is the Troller, check out the YouTube videos and tell me that's not the truth!

 

The troller was based of the escape. An even worse platform

 

Troller was developed by a separate company in Brazil which was then bought by Ford and has NOTHING to do with the Escape. It is a separate body-frame vehicle and was put on a shortened version of the Ranger frame in 2014. Unlikely it could ever meet US safety standards but Ford could use some of the styling vibe. It is as close to the Wrangler as Ford could get.

There have been Everest test mules around the Detroit area for the last couple years, so it looks more likely that Ford is gonna use the new Ranger body/dash to streamline crash testing. But we'll see what Ford does with styling, removable roof panels, etc.

As for Conanski's point about Jeep and Harley, those brands are both icons that have been around for 75-100 years and no other car or motorcycle maker could ever duplicate their "fashion" among people who buy these vehicles to wear, which is most of them.