Since its launch, the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport has been in high demand, to the point where Ford changed its policy on selling demo vehicles in an effort to ramp up inventory earlier this year. And despite facing major production problems stemming from the semiconductor chip shortage, Ford has still managed to grow Bronco Sport sales, moving nearly 15,000 of them in May and over 52,000 year-to-date. But perhaps even more interesting is just where Bronco Sport buyers are coming from.
According to Ford, more Bronco Sport buyers are defecting from Jeep than any other brand. This is obviously great news for the automaker, particularly as it prepares to launch the Ford Bronco, which will do battle directly with the Jeep Wrangler. But in the meantime, the smaller Bronco Sport is doing a great job of poaching buyers from other brands, with 63 percent of buyers coming from other automakers so far.
While Jeep vehicles are often lauded for their off-road capability, much of this success can likely be attributed to the fact that the Bronco Sport has also proven to be a surprisingly capable vehicle off-road as well. Most recently, we saw proof of this as a lightly-modified version of Ford’s crossover managed to climb Hell’s Gate – a notoriously difficult pass in Moab, Utah, that many other vehicles struggle to conquer.
Bronco Sport Badlands and First Edition buyers get free admission to the upcoming Bronco Off-Roadeo off-road driving school, so they can also learn how to navigate their rides down rugged trails, including those in Moab. Registration for the Off-Roadeo is currently open, and owners can also go ahead and sign up for the first location – Horseshoe Bay, Texas, right now.
We’ll have more on the Bronco Sport soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Bronco Sport news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
Awesome for Ford. Both the Mach-E and Bronco Sport have proven to not only entice existing Ford loyalists, but be a method for growing their customer base and getting people into their first Fords. Awesome job and glad Hackett is out the door.
Bronco will never be as great as a wrangler because it’s a ford
Not surprising. Fact is: A lot of the recent years Jeep drivers don’t really want the Jeep driving experience, they want the image. Just like in ’65: the Bronco Sport offers a more comfortable and quiet ride than the Jeep while still providing plenty of off-road capabilities and that cool “Adventure” look / image. Bingo.
I wonder how many bronco buyers will be looking for the “image”? My guess, most broncos will be mall crawlers. Very, very few broncos will be seen out on the trails, it will be easier to see one at the local car wash. The number of hours spent hand rubbing wax etc. (don’t forget the tire shine) will dwarf the number of hours off road. Driving around to the back side of the soccer field-on a dirt road, in order to pick up junior and a bag of soccer balls, Does Not Count as “off road”. Once the little 4 banger ecoboom mills meet the chinese made manual transmissions, the class action lawsuits will be fun to watch.
Interesting. I live in MT. I am interested in a Bronco, not a Sport, but am going to wait to see. I have a 15 Ram Outdoorsman slightly “enhanced” for offroad, but mainly my tow and transfer station now days with 60k on it. I got an 18 Renegade loaded Latitude vs a Stripped Trailhawk as a daily driver to save the truck and double my mileage. I was interested in the Sport as a research project but it has quickly become apparent it isn’t as good as my Renegade…in Montana… In a city setting it is likely superior…so I hope all those “turncoats” from Jeep are city drivers… You know…Posers
The Renegade, even non-trailhawk is a great vehicle. Get the OEM tires off put some Falken AT’s on there…pick up an inch of lift, put it in sand mode (Easter egg mode) and scream down some National Forest roads some time as your traction control light says off in yellow. Counterintuitively, the Renegade is the best washboard road driver I ever had. I had 60 miles of washboard north of Poleridge MT, shake a third gen Subaru Forester to pieces. The Renegade would have skated across it.
The Sport and Subaru’s don’t have a chance. Ford told us what the Sport would be when they went front end Independent suspension.
As an old fart, I went for the goodies on the Latitude and mpg.
I unexpectedly ended up with a little mountain beast. Yes, auto 2WD SUCKS. But in the mountains, I’m only stuck there going to Costco. The rest of the time…well… In Snow mode, no more spinning wheels at the mailbox, and even mud came in handy once in particular. If Jeep had made them towable by RV, they would have sold another couple hundred K of them. I think they missed a boat there and generally could have marketed them better. The Sport also reflects the trying to be something for everyone bias.
Come on Bronco… I’m waiting… whatcha gonna be?
I hope the shocks last longer than the cherokees and grand cherokees we’ve changed a bunch of them at our repair shop. And that on 2015s and newer with under 100k and folks that never go offroad except maybe on the beach (Delaware) .
If, Big If, large numbers of Mazda owners were giving up their Mazda to purchase a Bronco-I’d be impressed, big time; however, 4×4 owners staying within their “type” of vehicle does not, these buyers are not “converted” they are just exploring other 4×4 options, a Tahoe buyer deciding to purchase a Toyota Land Cruiser, is not surprising at all.
Jeez….. your brain must hurt from being sooo smart!
Thanks for the good thoughts, God Bless your heart. IF the bronco sport (BS) buyers are coming from other brands, I’d like to see the break down, as these made in Mexico “sports” are not real 4x4s, they don’t have a frame and are powered by 3 cylinder snowmobile engines (or you can “upgrade” to a 4 cylinder ecoboom), but are being advertised as “go anywhere vehicles…”. ford is selling the sizzle not the steak! Image is everything to these buyers, not off roading, even though, ford spends many millions of dollars show off the Off Road capabilities. These are soccer mom mobiles, if you pull to the back of the soccer field to pick up junior and a bag of soccer balls, this may be considered “off road” by many. But let’s be real, these soccer mom cars will see 10 times more time in the car wash, than off road. they will receive far more wax and tire shine than dirt or mud-these are not replacements for a jeep, or any other capable off road vehicle, unless- they are purchased for “the image”, here they may do well.
Despite the snazzy sheet metal exterior, it’s still a Ford Escape platform underneath…..hard pass.
Since JEEP was bought out in 2014 by FIAT MOST JEEP OWNERS DO NOT REALIZE THEY REALLY HAVE A FIAT NOT A JEEP.
Sorry jeep but thats just a fact
Now that Stellantis owns jeep, and stellantis owns Maserati, I guess, most new jeep owners don’t realize they own a Maserati! Myron you sure have it together. Sorry, but that’s just a fact.
The Jeeps that people are likely “converting” from are the models derided by Jeep-fanatics as phonies (Renegade, Compass, Cherokee). It’s not like people are trading their lifted JLR for a Bronco Sport; they’re swapping one slightly ruggedized CUV for another.
Well I read alot of opinions and we all know what opinions are…
Yes, we all know what opinions are, they are the first step to purchasing. Things such as blown ford 4 bangers, are not opinions, they are fact, how much the courts will give the owners (all those in one of the class action lawsuits) is an opinion, for now.
I’m waiting for the EV Bronco and EV Jeep to come to market and my loyalty will likely
go the one that comes out first and today that looks like jeep Recon. I kinda agree that
the loyalty thing with EV s is dwindling. Suspect that pricing for the 2 might be similar…..what do folks think?