It’s a sad fact of life, but in many states, front license plates are still required. That means that quite a few 2021 Ford Bronco owners will be forced to stick an ugly plate on the front of their vehicle, completely messing up the look of that sweet front fascia. What we didn’t know is just where that front license plate might be located. But thanks to these photos of a Cactus Gray four-door Black Diamond Ford Bronco prototype from a Bronco6G user, now we do.
This particular Ford Bronco prototype is wearing a front license plate holder up front, which is located on the grille, above the SUV’s optional Heavy Duty Modular Front Bumper. Thankfully, it doesn’t cover up the “Bronco” script in the grille, and it appears to leave the bumper’s functionality intact. We suppose that’s better than the alternative, at least.
Obviously, quite a few folks still aren’t happy with this placement, but there will certainly be plenty of aftermarket alternatives to choose from. And hopefully mounting it doesn’t require drilling holes into the vehicle, which is the case with many models. More than likely, things like the winch mounting location and the need to not block parking sensors and cameras dictated this placement as well.
Truthfully, there really isn’t a great place to mount any front license plate, and we wish that it wasn’t required anywhere. But the sad reality is that they are, and quite a few future Bronco owners will be facing a tough decision in the next few months. Of course, they could just choose to leave the front plate off altogether, but we imagine that might get somewhat expensive after a couple of tickets.
We’ll have much more on the 2021 Bronco very soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Bronco news and around-the-clock Ford news coverage.
Comments
This is the same issue 2002-05 Thunderbird owners face(d). The factory tag holder was downright ugly. Some folks just left the plate off and took the chance they would not get stopped. That is what I did. It took almost 6 years before I was stopped. I now have a removable front tag bracket that was custom made.
License plate frame location shown in pic beneath the Bronco script on grill is an area almost totally obscured by the optional Warn winch and bully bar I see elsewhere.
You are so right. I’m sure we’ll see an alternate for those guys buying the winch and bully bar. The vast majority of the fan boys buying both the winch and bully bar will never use either, so It may not be a big deal to just mount it on the driver’s side of the front bumper. I’ll be surprised if a “style” house doesn’t offer several mounts-various colors etc. for the “style conscious” owner. As there are zero production broncos, and there won’t be any for at least six months, I wouldn’t be surprised if ford makes one more (in the long chain of one mores) change. Next summer, a quick drive through your local mall should reveal how the mall crawlers are doing it.
Finally an Advantage to living in Kansas!!! No front plate. My Ford Fusion, Honda Civic, VW Eos, 68 Falcon, are all unsullied!!!
Same in Louisiana
same in Michigan as well
Another reason I love my home state of Mississippi.
Amazingly, almost every used vehicle I buy down here, even those sold new here, still have an ugly front plate holder. That’s one of the first things I do, cosmetically speaking.
I have lived in Washington state (among other states requiring one), and still have many ties there, I don’t miss a lot of things, not the least of which is the required front plate.
The only thing that will be mounted to the front of my Bronco, aside from any accessories, will be a little Ford oval on the lower driver’s side of the grille.
@Abner, nice fleet! Counting my boyfriend’s vehicles, we’re sitting at six, currently: Honda Accord, Ford Mustang, Ford SVT Focus, Chevy C10, Ford Taurus and a Ford F-100.
Same in Oklahoma.