For sure, I'm just saying for most buyers, that doesn't matter. Most people just want the idea of basic offroad capability.
The only good Bronco generation was from ‘66-‘77. First gen. Arguably better than jeeps of the era in many ways.
Better? People didnt want them. they went by -by and jeep never left and it's better then ever in off road capability right off the show room floor. Jeep was in the same oil crisis/etc/ect as the ford bronco. It fail and jeep had the better idea.
I've said it many times...rugged vehicle that can go off-road AND a convertible. There is literally no other option that match these two criteria. They were my main reasons. I will never rock crawl it...doesn't even remotely interest me. If it had an IFS I would not have batted an eye. In fact, I'd probably own two since my wife really likes mine but absolutely hates driving it.
I mean the Bronco thrived after the first gen, they were just a significantly different vehicle. In the 1970’s and 1980’s all taste went out the window for American car buyers, for example the Mustang II sold way better than the 1st gen. The Bronco outsold the Jeep handily, (from 1966-1986 Bronco sold around 720k, from 1954-1983 CJ-5 sold 605k) not to put down the Jeep, but the Bronco only died in ‘96 because Ford replaced it with explorer and expedition.
Why do people buy performance sports cars and not go to the track? Because it looks cool, is fun to drive, and has the "cred" to do it if they wanted to.
Convertible and no doors, for sure. Again, I really only do beach driving, so I could pretty much go with anything that has 4-wheel drive, but very few options with the other stuff.
You’ve kinda made the point that others have been making..... Jeep JL’s are selling like hotcakes, yet, I believe that the vast majority of them will never go off-road. So, why do people buy them? They like the looks and the marketing image. A Bronco will need to be a “credible” off-road vehicle so it can pitch the heck out of the image of hunting dinosaur bones in the Gobi. almost no one will ever try but the idea will capture the imagination.
200k annual between the Bronco and Bronco Sport
WOW! I would not have guessed that high. The Wrangler is around 250k, right? toss in some of the other vehicles like the 4Runner and maybe some off-road pickups and, what?, is there 1.25m vehicles sold in this category? 200k units a year for the Bronco just doesn’t feel right to me...... seems very optimistic. That said, I know nothing of these things......
The person who came up with this idea is a delusional fan. It is far too costly to develop and engineer two completely different 4wd setups. There are so many changes that need to be made to the front end for this to actually happen. Before anyone gets any crazy ideas. The SFA conversions that exist in the aftermarket are for extreme use and a lot of lift and tire. Not even comparable to what would come from a manufacturer.
