√Ford leaves the door open for Bronco in Australia

Ford executives say they have not given up on bringing the Bronco to Australia, however it will likely be a local conversion rather than a factory-built right-hand-drive model.

Plans to sell the Ford Bronco in Australia may not be done and dusted after all.

Although the Jeep Wrangler rival is based on the same platform as the Australian-developed Ford Ranger ute, the company decided to manufacture the Bronco in the US in left-hand drive only.

A factory-built right-hand-drive version of the Ford Bronco was not given the green light because it would have been prohibitively expensive to develop given the relatively small sales volume.

Jeep sells between 1000 and 1500 examples of the Wrangler in Australia each year, which Ford has deemed insufficient to justify a right-hand-drive Bronco program. In comparison, Ford sells more than 40,000 Ranger utes in Australia each year – and the vehicle is sold in multiple right-hand-drive markets.

Against the odds, however, Ford has left the door open for the Bronco making it to Australia one day – but likely as a local conversion alongside the Ford F-150 pick-up due locally mid 2023.

“We’re never going to stop reviewing the possibility (of Bronco). We haven’t said ‘no’,” Diane Craig, the boss of Ford’s international markets division, told Drive in an interview at last weekend’s Bathurst 1000 motor race.

“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.”

Ms Craig said one of the roadblocks for a right-hand-drive Bronco program is the fact that it is sold out in the US and the factory can’t keep up with demand.

When asked if the Bronco would likely be a factory-built right-hand-drive vehicle or a locally-converted right-hand-drive vehicle, Ms Craig said: “The scale (the limited number of vehicles that would be sold) is the challenge.”

The boss of Ford Australia, Andrew Birkic, said he understood the keen customer interest and “it’s fine to keep asking the question.”

“What we’ve got to do is look at a number of factors. It’s got to be commercially viable. Is there a customer for it? Is there a market? And can we get supply?”

Mr Birkic said Ford “will continue to evaluate those things, and as new news comes to light, we will adjust.”

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