2021 Ford Bronco

The 2021 Ford Bronco is an upcoming family of offroad-oriented vehicles, consisting of two SUVs and a pickup truck. The introduction will mark the return of the Bronco name after the nameplate was discontinued in 1996.

Expectations

Here’s what we expect from the 2021 Ford Bronco:

Body styles.
- Two-door midsize SUV
- Four-door midsize SUV
- Four-door midsize pickup truck
Exterior:
- Tough, rugged styling cues with an upright theme and design
- Optimized approach, breakaway and departure angles making for a capable off-road vehicle
- Feature a modular grille, A-pillar-mounted side mirrors, and a swing gate, at least as an option
- Removable roof for Bronco SUV and for Bronco pickup, removable doors and removable roll cage
Interior:
- Two rows of seating for five passengers for all body configurations
- Split-folding rear seats with ample cargo room
- A Bronco-themed startup animation on the center screen
Platform:
- Loosely based on the Ford T6 platform used on:
  - T6 Ford Ranger for International markets
  - Ford Everest for International markets (sold as the Ford Endeavour in India)
  - 2019 Ford Ranger for the U.S. and Canadian markets
- The previous Ford technical head, Raj Nair, stated that despite sharing a platform with these Everest/Endeavour, the 2021 Bronco will be a unique vehicle, rather than a rebadged Ford Everest currently sold in the Asia-Pacific region.
Positioning:
- Slotting below the Ford Expedition, currently the only remaining Ford SUV on a body-on-frame platform, and on roughly the same level as the Ford Explorer
- In fact, the 2021 Bronco will effectively take the place of the Ford Explorer when the Explorer switched from a body-on-frame SUV to a unibody crossover utility vehicle (CUV) in 2011
Production:
- Production will take place at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan alongside the 2019 Ford Ranger. The Ford Focus and Ford C-MAX that were built there previously have been discontinued.

Body Styles

The 2021 Ford Bronco will be offered in three body styles – two SUVs and one pickup truck, as follows:

Two-door midsize SUV
Four-door midsize SUV
Four-door midsize pickup truck

It’s important to note that the “baby Bronco” will be a separate model that will be a unibody crossover, rather than a body-on-frame SUV. We believe this model will be called Bronco Sport, and not the Bronco Adventurer, as previously reported.

Platform

All sixth-generation units of the Ford Bronco will ride on the Ford T6 platform loosely shared with the following vehicles:

2011 Ford Ranger and newer (International markets, Ranger T6, 2011 – present)
- 2019 Ford Ranger Raptor (International markets, Ranger T6, 2019 – present)
2015 Ford Everest and newer (International markets, 2015 – present)
- Ford Everest is sold as Ford Endeavour in India
2019 Ford Ranger (USA and Canada, 2019 – present)
2021 Ford Bronco (USA and Canada, 2020 – present)

Powertrain

The 2021 Ford Bronco is expected to be powered by a a turbo-charged four-cylinder EcoBoost engine mated to a choice of two transmissions:

Ford 10-speed automatic
Getrag 6MTI550 6-speed manual

Four-wheel-drive will likely be standard, though it’s possible that Ford will offer a model with rear-wheel-drive.

Competitors

The 2021 Bronco will take on the following models directly:

Bronco SUV:

Jeep Wrangler
Toyota 4Runner

Bronco Pickup:

Jeep Gladiator
Chevrolet Colorado/ZR2
Toyota Tacoma/TRD Pro
Toyota HiLux

Standard Features

2021 Bronco standard features are currently unknown. We will update this section once Ford provides the information.

Available Features

2021 Bronco available features are currently unknown. We will update this section once Ford provides the information.

Available Packages

2021 Bronco available packages are currently unknown. We will update this section once Ford provides the information.

Trim Levels

It’s currently unclear how the trim level structure will look like for the 2021 Ford Bronco. We see it going in one of the following two directions.

The first direction involves the vehicle using the traditional Ford trim level structure, such as

Bronco (base)
XLT
Limited
Platinum
Potential Bronco Raptor off-road trim level

The second possible direction involves Ford giving the 2021 Bronco a unique trim level structure. To date, Ford has filed to trademark the following names, which could potentially be part of the trim level/model structure:

Bronco Outer Banks
Bronco Big Bend
Bronco Scout
Bronco Sport (will be name of smaller Bronco crossover, aka baby Bronco)

Price

We expect the 2021 Bronco price to start in the low $30,000 range.

Announcement

On January 9^th, 2017 at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Ford confirmed that it will reintroduce the Bronco as a midsize SUV.

The 2021 Bronco was expected to be revealed at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in January 2019, or at a private event around that timeframe. However, that did not materialize. Instead, the vehicle has been delayed and is now expected to be revealed in April 2020 and go on sale later that year as a 2021 model year model.

Production

The 2021 Ford Bronco will be assembled at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, USA. Coincidentally, the factory is the plant that also produced the original Ford Bronco.

Release Date & Availability

The 2021 Ford Bronco is expected to go on sale in the first half of the 2021 calendar year, either as a 2021 or 2022 model.

Beyond 2021

We expect that the sixth-generation Bronco will live on through the 2026 model year, and that an all-new, future Ford Bronco will launch on or after the 2027 model year.