Ford Bronco may be about to go right-hand drive for Australia
Yesterday at 09:29 PM
The global boss of Ford has strongly indicated a factory-built right-hand-drive version of the Ford Bronco 4WD is on the cards.
A factory-built right-hand-drive Ford Bronco is closer than ever to receiving the green light – after years of speculation and denials – according to the global CEO of the company.
The Bronco shares its DNA with the top-selling Ranger ute and Everest 4WD – and was partially developed in Australia – but it has always been pitched as left-hand drive only.
Ford has long left the door open for an Australian launch, but CEO Jim Farley has now indicated right-hand drive may now be given the go-ahead for production.
“The big Bronco will do right-hand drive and I think it's worth a try,” Farley told the UK’s Car Magazine, when asked if Bronco could compete with Land Rover in the UK.
MORE: What's this Ford Bronco Raptor doing in Australia?
“We had a break-up with a marriage there,” Farley said, referencing the US car giant’s sale of Land Rover to Indian giant Tata in 2008, “the next step is to go dating again, right?”
The global Ford boss did not provide a timeline on when a right-hand-drive Bronco could launch.
Selling the car in the UK and Australia would likely require right-hand-drive versions to be produced in the same factory is left-hand-drive versions, rather than an Australian left- to right-hand-drive ‘re-manufacturing’ program similar to the F-150 pick-up.
The Ford Bronco is produced in Michigan, USA for North American markets, and Nanchang, China through a joint venture for the local market.
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Among the roadblocks that have long faced a right-hand-drive Bronco is a question over potential sales, given Jeep only sells about 1000 Wranglers in Australia each year.
In contrast, more than 63,000 Ford Rangers were reported as sold in Australia last year, and the ute is popular in more right-hand-drive markets around the world.
“Ford never funded enthusiast products – they were always a side business. Now with Mustang, Raptor and Bronco, they're our business,” Farley told Car.
“We're naturally good at fast Fords and Broncos and authentic off-roaders. Ford's brand perception was the same around the world: we were a ubiquitous company.
“But we had these little areas of brightness: we have heritage centres around the world filled with these [great] vehicles, but they were never mainstream.”
Drive has contacted Ford Australia for comment on Farley’s quotes, and will update this story once a response is received.
MORE: Ford leaves the door open for Bronco in Australia
Ford has never confirmed the Bronco for Australia, but has left the door open for a local introduction.
“We’re never going to stop reviewing the possibility [of Bronco]. We haven’t said ‘no’,” Diane Craig, head of Ford’s international markets division, told Drive in October 2022.
“We have got to see what we can do with this F-150 right-hand-drive conversion first.
“We’ve got to see what we can deliver and … [if] there is an opportunity for us to get creative on some of these other icon vehicles.”
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