Bronco Production Update From MAP - July 19th 🏭

[PREMiERdrum]

@PREMiERdrum Do you know if Ford or any partners are planning to push out an OEM non-fastback 2-door softtop anytime?

Any chances they'll let us 2dr folks switch to a soft top? I'm perfectly, if not more so, happy switching!

Work on an OEM soft top is done but from what I can tell there is a legal matter keeping it from being available as the primary 2-door roof from the factory. That's all I can say about that.

You really should have Mike Levine's job. (If you wanted it) You are the only real source of true communication as far as what is going on. Thanks.

I know Mike catches a lot of flack around here but I can attest to the fact that he is a solid dude. Any sort of customer communication from Ford goes through layers of checking and approvals and with careful strategy behind it.

I'm a dude with some good sources sitting in my home office with a 115lb dog asleep at my feet and a couple fingers of bourbon (Dickel 15 year single barrel, neat) in my hand.

Mike's injection of product passion has done great things for Ford's formerly-stodgy and staid communications efforts. He's a truck guy who takes his rigs (a Ranger Tremor and Bronco Sport) out to get dirty every weekend. His boy is in the Air Force Academy and they're a lovely family overall. The Bronco stuff is frustrating, and I wouldn't want his job in a million years.

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[Tricky Dick]

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Whoa! Hold your horses. Just give me the defective top then.

 

[Jnic815]

If there was a softtop option for the 2 door, I’d switch my order today.. I’ve had a reservation over a year now and still no hope for a Bronco in sight. Honestly I’d order the aftermarket bestop myself and take delivery with no top if it was an option, but the top isn’t the only thing delaying mine..

2Dr
Obx
2.7
10spd
Tow pack
Mic top
Ppf

 

[TheWoo]

Work on an OEM soft top is done but from what I can tell there is a legal matter keeping it from being available as the primary 2-door roof from the factory. That's all I can say about that.

This would square with the somewhat weird and unknown reg that has/had Jeep only shipping 2 doors with hard tops for quite a while. The comment was that they couldn't ship any soft tops from the factory until a certain number of hard tops were sold. Very weird, but sounds very government-y.

I know Mike catches a lot of flack around here but I can attest to the fact that he is a solid dude. Any sort of customer communication from Ford goes through layers of checking and approvals and with careful strategy behind it.

I'm a dude with some good sources sitting in my home office with a 115lb dog asleep at my feet and a couple fingers of bourbon (Dickel 15 year single barrel, neat) in my hand.

Mike's injection of product passion has done great things for Ford's formerly-stodgy and staid communications efforts. He's a truck guy who takes his rigs (a Ranger Tremor and Bronco Sport) out to get dirty every weekend. His boy is in the Air Force Academy and they're a lovely family overall. The Bronco stuff is frustrating, and I wouldn't want his job in a million years.

Amen. Also, while we all appreciate your info, we know that if you were "Ford official" what you are providing would never be seen as enough. That's one of the primary challenges with any official communication - people say "just tell us this and we'll be happy", but the minute that is shared everyone wants more.

Nothing wrong with any of that, but it puts company messaging folks in extraordinarily hard, underappreciated, no-win situations. And that's before you throw legal into the mix telling you not to say stuff...

Thanks for sharing what you can. It's appreciated.

 

[Baddie64]

At this point I’d take the bestop for my 2 door. Ford can throw in the hard top gratis when available for the trouble.

 

[mpeugeot]

Work on an OEM soft top is done but from what I can tell there is a legal matter keeping it from being available as the primary 2-door roof from the factory. That's all I can say about that.

I am a problem solver... Tell Ford to fold up some cardboard boxes with duct tape as the "new" hard top, and then send the soft top along with it as low cost dual top option. I will let Ford address the shortcomings of the cardboard hard top later!

FORD WE KNOW THAT YOU ARE READING!!! SO STOP HIDING AND ADDRESS THE 2 DOOR ISSUE PUBLICLY.

 

[Scohin]

Yeah as a 2dr person, at this point sadly I'd take a soft top if it meant getting mine within this year. I'd take no top if it meant I could get some kind of top before the first bit of cold hits the Rockies

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Nothing wrong with any of that, but it puts company messaging folks in extraordinarily hard, underappreciated, no-win situations. And that's before you throw legal into the mix telling you not to say stuff...

Thanks for sharing what you can. It's appreciated.

Exactly. I have a Bachelors Degree in Communications and work as the Director of Communications for a civil rights nonprofit as my day job, so I'm painfully aware of the canyon between "what you know" and "what you can say."

 

[TheWoo]

Exactly. I have a Bachelors Degree in Communications and work as the Director of Communications for a civil rights nonprofit as my day job, so I'm painfully aware of the canyon between "what you know" and "what you can say."

I spend most of my days messaging for my non-profit organization. No matter how "transparent" and "open" any of us want to be, there are times we can't say things, and there are even more times we shouldn't say things because incomplete information leads to worse outcomes than no information.

 

[okbob]

Enough about bad roofs, late scheduling, and multi-week gate holds to check the roof panels, okay? The fine men and women of MAP are ramping up at an exciting pace to get as many of your builds out the door as possible.

The current pace of production is seeing nearly 900 units daily roll off of final assembly as we sit just 2 weeks away from "full blend" line speed. That 900 figure is split between Bronco and Ranger, currently running about a 60/40 split. Bronco's body shop has been pushing out as many as 300 rigs per shift, as they are running ahead of final a bit on speed. Units are only going to paint when there is room for them on final after, so there will be some ebb and flow here.

We've all been let down by the issues surrounding the MIC tops - my own included - and I have to believe that there is a fix in the works. All I can say for certain is that issues are being documented thoroughly and I expect some customer-facing movement on this soon.

As you've seen, production mix for the coming months is shifting outside of demand for hard tops (and all 2 door units). There was optimism in the last 6 weeks when output at the Plymouth plant ticked up a bit, but the multiple issues with delivered roof units has popped that balloon quite quickly. I can't say for sure what the final mix will be, but dealers are being asked to program retail stock builds (all 4 door soft tops, mostly base and Big Bend trims) so that MAP has a pool of backup builds in case they run out of buildable units. They will NOT build appreciable stock units IF there are buildable customer units in the queue. It's just a matter of what they're able to build.

IF you're lucky enough to get a hard top Bronco delivered, document the heck out of your roof at delivery. Take pictures of the entire inside and outside in detail. Note any inconsistencies - however small - so the dealer has record of it for when a solution becomes available.

The more I hear from my folks and spend time watching how my roof is reacting to everyday use, it's becoming sadly apparent that the design might only work if manufacturing were 100% perfect.. and even then it's iffy. Specifically, the raw edges where all 3 layers are cross-sectioned is just begging for material loss from the core (mine has happened in a pretty dramatic fashion in the last 3 weeks), leaving little cavities where water can accumulate and cause havoc when the weather shifts.

Annoying roof issues aside - that I'm confident Ford will address - these rigs are sweet. They're fun an engaging to drive, they're comfortable to live with, they do what you ask them to without any protest, and they catch the eye of everyone around you.


Q&A:



With all that I've been told (much of which I've shared with you, but certainly not all), the part is very difficult to manufacture under ideal conditions, and some of the final design designs - notably the raw exposed cut edges - are questionable.

That Webasto is an absolute dumpster fire (and that's insulting to campus parties down the street at THE Ohio State University) just took a small issue and turned it nuclear.

Appreciate the update. Why are 2 door Badlands with SAS and 2 door Wildtraks still showing up daily at dealers as demos/mannequins when there so many of us with those same builds that have heard nothing?

 

[DudeBronco]

@Ford Motor Company please just ship with soft tops and a connection kit then backfill the MIC tops to the dealers when you have them perfect. We just want a Bronco.

 

[Sooner]

Work on an OEM soft top is done but from what I can tell there is a legal matter keeping it from being available as the primary 2-door roof from the factory. That's all I can say about that.


I know Mike catches a lot of flack around here but I can attest to the fact that he is a solid dude. Any sort of customer communication from Ford goes through layers of checking and approvals and with careful strategy behind it.

I'm a dude with some good sources sitting in my home office with a 115lb dog asleep at my feet and a couple fingers of bourbon (Dickel 15 year single barrel, neat) in my hand.

Mike's injection of product passion has done great things for Ford's formerly-stodgy and staid communications efforts. He's a truck guy who takes his rigs (a Ranger Tremor and Bronco Sport) out to get dirty every weekend. His boy is in the Air Force Academy and they're a lovely family overall. The Bronco stuff is frustrating, and I wouldn't want his job in a million years.

And you are still doing 1,000% better than they are at keeping me from being severely pissed at them!

 

[BravoV4]

Appreciate the update. Why are 2 door Badlands with SAS and 2 door Wildtraks still showing up daily at dealers as demos/mannequins when there so many of us with those same builds that have heard nothing?

If they are Mannequins/Demo Units then they were more than likely built back in May and were waiting to get shipped.

 

[LowerSlowerDelaware]

Until Ford solves the production problems with Webastards' multiple MIC QC issues, I've got the MIC Repair Kit that can handle cracks, delamination and that pesky edge de-bonding with core disentegration. This should tie us over until Ford Replaces our MICs or we find something better on the aftermarket. Patience, Grit and Duck Tape has held more together through grubbier times.

 

[XxGearheadxX]

@PREMiERdrum So for us that have 2 door build dates in August… do you think they are going to push or will be built with the top that could or could not be up to spec?

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