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Jeep and Chevrolet's Reaction to New Ford Bronco

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FORD BRONCO: COMPETITION SHOWS LITTLE CONCERN FOR UPCOMING SUV

https://www.musclecarsandtrucks.com/ford-bronco-competition-shows-little-concern-for-upcoming-suv/

November 11, 2019

The 2021 Ford Bronco will be officially shown during the “Spring of 2020,” which we believe will be just in time for the Detroit Auto Show, now happening in early June, just after the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. The 4×4 off-road oriented American SUV is expected to be a fierce competitor to anything that could be considered its rival, such as the Jeep Wrangler and Toyota 4Runner. Tangentially, the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 pickup truck could deal with new Bronco cross-shopping, as well.

So we asked folks from FCA and GM how they feel about the inbound Ford Bronco. At least outwardly, nobody seems to mind.

“We’re always in tune with the industry with what’s going on with other OEMs and what suppliers and customers are doing, but our focus is Wrangler and optimizing that… we’re not in a place where we’re reacting to others,” said Kim Mathers, head of Mopar performance and accessories, during a 2019 SEMA backgrounder event, pertaining to the various functions and accessories the Ford Bronco is expected to have.

“If we’re doing our job right, it doesn’t matter what the others do,” she continued.

To the credit of Mopar, Over 90 percent of Jeep Wrangler SUVs have at least one Mopar accessory, while the Gladiator has more than $1,000 in accessories per vehicle, and trends above even the mighty JL Wrangler when it comes to customer personalization.

Crosstown rivals from Chevrolet are also observing, but not outwardly alarmed.

“I guess when (the Bronco) gets here, we’ll evaluate what that means,” said Chevrolet Silverado marketing manager Hugh Milne on the SEMA Show floor.

While the Colorado ZR2 stands as one of the most capable off-road vehicles on the market today, General Motors will continue to avoid offering a mid-size off-road SUV, as most recently such a vehicle was axed during the company’s latest restructuring shakeup a year ago, which we originally reported on.

While the new Bronco was not at the SEMA Show, Ford Performance announced that it will enter the Baja 1000 desert off-road race with the Bronco R prototype racer with a production architecture and production-based EcoBoost engine. Outwardly, the race truck’s sheetmetal hints at what’s to come. Watch this space for more Bronco news as it happens, because it’s definitely not stopping anytime soon.
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Chevy is observing but not alarmed. The same Chevy that made fun of Ford's aluminum truck beds... and then came out with a carbon fiber truck bed. The same Chevy that made fun of Ford's turbocharged V6s in trucks, then came out with a turbo 4 cylinder in their trucks (which at the same 2.7 liter displacement gets smoked by Ford's 2.7 liter).

$5 says GM is gonna come out with an "offroady" SUV or at least trim for some square wheel well contraption in the next 2-3 years following the Bronco :D
 

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Chevy has to worry about the Gladiator taking its Zr2/Bison sales and they just released the car based blazer. They can’t afford to think about the Bronco.
 

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Admitting they are worried would be marketing gold for the Bronco. Can’t expect them to express any worry about Ford’s plans publicly.
 

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Simple.

They've been aware of it for a while and probably have a better idea of what it'll look like. The statement you quoted was referring to how well it'll do in sales. If it bombs GM doesn't have shit to worry about. If it succeeds GM is probably gonna kick itself in the ass.
 

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GM is a business, and they are interested in profits. They don't care about being the sales leader, if it takes cutting profit per vehicle to boost sales. They don't care to have the coolest vehicles, if they won't sell.

Hard to blame them, considering how many times they have dealt with bankruptcy.
 

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I’m not a bumper sticker guy but I might have to get this one if they bring the hummer back...
Sure, they're always "mulling." Call me when they announce something.

I'm just happy the ZR2 made it to market.
 

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Being on the cutting edge is risky. Playing follow the leader comes with lessened rewards, but lower risk.
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