March 22, Jiangling FORD BRONCO officially started pre-sale. The new car will offer 7 models, namely Far Bay, Mozan, Mozan Bigfoot Off-road Edition, Long Beach, Long Beach Bigfoot Off-road Edition, Wilderness, and Great Swamp Special Limited Edition. The car color matching provides volcano black, snow peak white, dune white, cliff gray, angry wave blue, swamp green (only for Great Swamp version), etc. The pre-sale price range is 300,000-450,000 yuan, and the new car is expected to be officially listed at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show.
In terms of appearance, FORD BRONCO continues the styling design of the overseas version, and it looks very retro and tough. The front face of the new car adopts a borderless front grille design, and the round headlights on both sides extend to the through-type grille, which has a strong sense of integrity. At the same time, the “Bronco” logo is directly inlaid in the center of the grille, and the FORD logo is added, which has a high degree of recognition. The lower surrounding area is equipped with off-road commonly used trailer hooks, combined with large-size all-terrain AT tires, prominent wheel arches, and exposed rear-mounted spare tires, to further enhance the tough off-road atmosphere of the entire vehicle.
FORD BRONCO adopts a non-load-bearing body structure and a suspension structure of front double wishbones and rear multi-link integral axles. In addition, the domestic version of Wild Horse has towing qualifications, and the original factory is equipped with or optional rear towing devices. The maximum towing mass of the trailer is 1,500 kilograms. In terms of size, the length, width, and height of the standard version are 4,800 (4,825) / 2,070 / 1,990mm, and the wheelbase is 2,950mm; the approach angle of the ordinary non-big-foot version is 38 degrees, the departure angle is 31 degrees, the passing angle is 22 degrees, the minimum ground clearance is 237/242mm, and the maximum wading depth is 800mm. The approach angle of the big-foot version (wilderness/Big Swamp) is 45 degrees, the departure angle is 37 degrees, the passing angle is 26 degrees, the minimum ground clearance is 273mm, and the maximum wading depth is 850mm (with a snorkel of 925mm).
At the rear of the car, the new car adopts the vertical taillight design commonly seen on hard-core off-road vehicles, and is equipped with a external spare tire. The tailgate is side-opening. According to previous news, the new car has volcano black, snow peak white, dune white, cliff gray, angry wave blue and other color matching, and the roof is a three-section detachable design. In addition, the doors can also be disassembled by tools, and the outside mirrors can still be used, and the doors can be stored in the trunk.
In terms of interior, FORD BRONCO still has a traditional off-road style, but in order to meet the needs of domestic consumers, it is equipped with dual 12-inch liquid crystal meters and a central control screen, and is built-in with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 high computing power chip. The physical buttons of the multimedia system and air conditioning system below the center console are still retained, which is very necessary for a deep off-road vehicle, especially in a convertible environment, the harsh environment may make it more convenient to operate the physical buttons. At the same time, the buttons in the car can also ensure that they are not damaged when rainwater enters. The gearshift lever behind the transmission can be manually switched between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive low speed. Since the doors can be removed, the window buttons and mirror adjustments are also located in the center armrest of the vehicle.
In terms of power, the FORD BRONCO produced in China is equipped with a 2.3T turbocharged EcoBoos engine with a maximum power of 202 kilowatts and a maximum torque of 429 Newton meters, matched with a 10AT transmission.
It is well known that Ford Motor in the United States has two joint venture companies in China, Jiangling Ford and Changan Ford. In contrast, the presence of Changan Ford is significantly higher than that of Jiangling Ford. The former mainly focuses on the passenger car market, such as Mondeo, Explorer, and Focus models, while the latter relies mainly on Ford commercial vehicles to maintain its market position, such as Transit, Fushun, and Teshun models. Since 2024, Jiangling Ford has successively localized two models, Ranger/Bronco. The Ranger Wrangler is priced at 145,800-240,800 yuan. Whether these two models can open the market for Jiangling Ford remains to be tested.
Off-road vehicles are destined to be a niche product category in China and rarely make it onto consumers’ shopping lists. On the one hand, the price is relatively expensive, and on the other hand, it requires certain driving skills. Therefore, although off-road vehicles are popular with some consumers, based on demand and cost, most people will still focus on sedans or SUVs. After all, the design of SUV models is becoming more and more tough, which can also meet the off-road complex to a certain extent. In addition, even if you buy an off-road vehicle, such as Land Cruiser, Jeep Wrangler, and Nissan Patrol, in fact, few consumers will go to the off-road site for off-roading.
However, today’s off-road vehicles are gradually being passengerized. In the domestic market, the TANK 300 model under Great Wall Motors continues to sell well. As a tough domestic SUV, the launch of the TANK 300 has lowered the threshold for domestic consumers to enter the tough off-road SUV, which is also the main reason for the hot sales of the TANK 300 after its launch. Afterwards, more and more brands began to layout this market, such as Chery Jietu, Changan Deep Blue, and BYD Equation Leopard, and tried to redefine this market in the form of new energy.
The FORD BRONCO is a model with a long history, and the accumulated user reputation and brand recognition are unparalleled by other domestic brands. However, domestic consumers value whether the price is appropriate. Currently, the prices of almost all joint venture tough off-road vehicles are not cheap. The soon-to-be-launched FAW Toyota Prado is priced at 470,000-570,000 yuan, even more expensive than the previous generation of domestic models. And the current domestic off-road vehicles are developing vigorously. The new TANK 400 Hi4-T off-road version is priced at 285,800 yuan, and the BYD Equation Leopard 5 is priced at 289,800 yuan. In the context of the annual decline in the market share of joint venture brands, even with a rich historical heritage, an inappropriate price will eventually be abandoned by the market.
