Manoli Katakis 
The 2023 Ford Capital Markets Day has come and gone, and what a day it was. The nearly 6-hour-long presentation was densely packed full of information on what Ford Motor Company plans to do with regard to tackling unnecessary costs, quality issues, manufacturing and supply bottlenecks, as well as readying its next generation of electric vehicles. That was all in the first couple of hours. If you tuned in long enough, there were a few future product details that various Ford executives touched on. And the Ford Bronco was no exception. During his time on the stage, Ford Blue Vice President of Product Development Operations and Quality Jim Baumbick shed some light on what’s next for the company’s go-anywhere SUV.
In the graphic pictured above, we see that Ford intends to soon offer a “Work” version of the Ford Bronco, as well as “Premium” and “Heritage+” versions. Below, we’ll detail what that could mean.
A Ford Bronco “Premium” would likely slot itself in a space currently occupied by the Jeep Wrangler High Altitude. This street-focused Jeep sees 22-inch wheels, body-colored fenders and other accents, as well as a more posh interior. At the time of this writing, it’s priced from $55,515, including destination.
As for a “Work” Ford Bronco derivative, it’s unclear what direction it could take. But if late Ford T4 Troller (an SUV that was exclusively sold in Brazil) is any indicator, it would be a no-frills SUV meant for uses in remote areas. Such use cases could include off-road ambulances, park ranger vehicles, and forest fire response. Ford has clearly entertained the thought of such a Bronco, as seen with the ARB Service Unit Bronco, pictured above. Another ideation is the Bronco Fire Rig Concept, pictured below, done in collaboration with fashion brand Filson. A third “Work” Ford Bronco teaser came in the form of a truck: the BDS Suspension Ford Bronco SEMA Concept that donned fire-fighting outfit.
A “Heritage+” Ford Bronco has us thinking about another iteration of a retro-inspired package, building off what we currently see with the available Bronco Heritage Edition. We could see more body color and chrome work, as seen on the Ford Bronco Pope Francis Concept, pictured at the bottom of this article.
Baumbick also pointed out that Ford’s product derivatives, such as the Bronco Raptor, see profit margins that are at least 30 percent higher than the standard variant they’re based on, eluding to the business cases of these vehicles.
Ford didn’t disclose the potential names for these upcoming Bronco “Work” and “Premium” derivatives, nor are there any clues of future names currently registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Baumbick, who already once mentioned that “a ton more” Bronco versions are on the way, made note of the Ford Bronco’s modularity, helping engineers bring a spectrum of variants that are focused on sub-demographics to market quickly. Seeing as there are no less than nine different Bronco trims, each in both 2-door and 4-door versions, that definitely appears to be the case. But where customers are certainly spoilt for choice when it comes to the Bronco, Ford continues to fight quality and supply issues as it manages a thick customer backlog. At the moment, the base Ford Bronco is seeing extremely limited availability, while the Bronco Everglades —an SUV that comes standard with a snorkel and winch that’s capable of wading through 3-feet of water— is absent from the roster entirely.
“Jeep has owned this segment for way too long. From day one on Bronco, our goal was to play to win. And for the first quarter of this year, Bronco outsold Wrangler for the first time ever in retail sales,” said Baumbick.
