The Morning After: Bronco Production News Update and Notes [June 16]

[PREMiERdrum]

Obviously Webasto has not had any time to figure that out in the 14 years making Jeeps top.

What? There are 7/13, 7/14, 7/15 orders that are not scheduled yet, meaning they won't be showing up until September at the earliest. If you have a first 2/3 day reservation you are looking at October or November.

The staffing has been normal for almost a year. How is the tooling different for the exact same top in different dimensions? I like all the excuses everyone is coming up with for Ford.

The bottom line is that Ford will sell every Bronco they build, this is not in question. The problem is this Bronco is bringing people who never buy Ford into their clientele mix. They could be adding a ton of new sales of trucks and vans for business nationwide with a good effective efficient launch. Those buying the Bronco and the 992 GT3 the M5 the GT63S the G63. Its a great way to reach those who have and run our economy. What is Ford showing these people? They had a great opportunity to expand their reach.

A quick clarification: The MIC hard top for the Bronco is a vastly different design consisting of a honeycomb core with thin sheets top and bottom. They are not simple injection molded panels. The manufacturing process is completely different and obviously more complicated.

Additionally, the staffing situation at the Plymouth plant has been *anything* but stable since the doors opened. Plant leadership created a toxic atmosphere that quickly chased out just about any team member who could positively contribute. While many of these problems were covered up by the lack of resin needed to manufacture tops in an appreciable capacity (thanks, COVID!), the plant has been a mess. The biggest output of tops came over the Ford plant shutdowns, when many Ford team members went from Flat Rock and MAP to help produce at Webasto.

Ford essentially took control of the plant a few months ago and have been slowly righting the ship, but we can't overstate just how big of a mess it was: New design, new tooling, toxic management, and major supply chain issues.

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[Tricky Dick]

Please let the new member to the Bronco family be a 2 door pick up

Pretty please....

If done right this could make me regret my order a bit. I don't care for the departure angles that come with pickups though.

 

[RBF 1401]

If my 2 year old spent billions and sent out national marketing materials saying he could tie his shoes by a certain date, I would hold him to it.

And if your 2-year-old got sick or injured would you still hold him to the deadline?

I'm ok with how well Ford has adapted.

I know way too many people in way too many different professions to be blind to how much worse this could have been for Ford and our Broncos.

 

[mpeugeot]

MAS has a complete different system than a normal reservation holder as we couldn't reserve through Fords system. We were just "in line" locally through your MAS rep. The MAS rep could only order them as soon as the order banks opened around the 19th of January. The difference is that deployed/overseas military orders were of the first built from what I am told. As we don't have a reservation timestamp and are not working with a dealer.

Sort of, the orders are placed into WDMO, like any other order. Although I tried to get my order placed in January, I wasn't even able to order until April when I was notified that I was going to get an allocation from MAS. Then they spent the next month not getting my order right. My order was finally correct on the 4th of May, and that's the order date in WDMO for my VIN. MAS can see my PSP date, but I can't yet see a build date on the order tracker. So yes, technically, we don't have a "reservation number" even though my deposit was made on 01/15/2021. It has been a stange experience the whole way and I have had to derive data from a number of sources, including deriving the order number to use the order tracker here.

 

[Bdisco]

Wow more good news two days in a row.

I don't know how to feel. Something bad must happen. I have trust issues. I'm still scheduled for the week of 6/21 after getting bumped from 6/7, or at least I haven't gotten another email besides offers for Fordpass credit cards. My friend is buying my Sti tomorrow so no going back now.

I'll be driving the Chevy HD until my Bronco comes in. The Wildtrak's 17mpg is going to look great after commuting with the Chevy's 12mpg.

I'm glad Ford is ramping up production just whoever is building mine take your time and make sure everything is plugged in and working. Thanks

 

[Wanted33]

Ummmm, could Ross be "The Stig" in disquise? Think about it, The Stig was a mysterious being that we knew practically nothing about. And with Ross we only know what we see in his avatar, but he is in the loop of some very useful information. I know he says he receives this info from an insider, but could he be the true source of this information? I don't know about you folks, but I am quite suspicious.

BTW, we've seen no comments from our "Bronco Queen" Ashley @618TRVLWILD. Could she be in on this clandestine operation? Only time will tell............


Thanks for the update Ross (if that's who you truly are). Gives me hope that mine will be in around the time I hoped for in '22.

 

[TurnerNHooch]

You literally could not be any more wrong about this. The Bronco top shares absolutely nothing in common with the Jeep top, its like Ford set out to design something even better, weird.

Totally different top structure, made from three layers fused together. Made out of totally different materials that mold/press on totally new equipment, in a totally new factory, run by a freshly hired workforce.

This is good news to this former JKU owner. The Jeep tops were a mess the first time they came off. They looked like a stuffy losing its fluff.

 

[618TRVLWILD]

Ummmm, could Ross be "The Stig" in disquise? Think about it, The Stig was a mysterious being that we knew practically nothing about. And with Ross we only know what we see in his avatar, but he is in the loop of some very useful information. I know he says he receives this info from an insider, but could he be the true source of this information? I don't know about you folks, but I am quite suspicious.

BTW, we've seen no comments from our "Bronco Queen" Ashley @618TRVLWILD. Could she be in on this clandestine operation? Only time will tell............


Thanks for the update Ross (if that's who you truly are). Gives me hope that mine will be in around the time I hoped for in '22.

I’ll never reveal the sources! Sometimes I like to set back and observe!

 

[Ksjrb03]

This is good news to this former JKU owner. The Jeep tops were a mess the first time they came off. They looked like a stuffy losing its fluff.

There will be no paint on a Bronco MIC top. I was shocked recently when I took a front panel off my brothers '18 Wrangler, pretty crappy paint job.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Ummmm, could Ross be "The Stig" in disquise?

As a general rule, guys of my stature shouldn't wear white jumpsuits.

 

[TurnerNHooch]

There will be no paint on a Bronco MIC top. I was shocked recently when I took a front panel off my brothers '18 Wrangler, pretty crappy paint job.

I was floored to be honest. As a part that it is awkward, heavy and needs to be stored, you would think that it would have been engineered to withstand a bump or two around the edges. Messy.

 

[Raptor911]

Didn't you get the memo? We are not calling it the Warthog anymore.

The Bronco Brand:
- Warthog's announcement isn't too far off, and I expect we could see the next member of the Bronco family debut in the next 18 months (even if in concept form).

 

[j_marinelli]

A quick clarification: The MIC hard top for the Bronco is a vastly different design consisting of a honeycomb core with thin sheets top and bottom. They are not simple injection molded panels. The manufacturing process is completely different and obviously more complicated.

Additionally, the staffing situation at the Plymouth plant has been *anything* but stable since the doors opened. Plant leadership created a toxic atmosphere that quickly chased out just about any team member who could positively contribute. While many of these problems were covered up by the lack of resin needed to manufacture tops in an appreciable capacity (thanks, COVID!), the plant has been a mess. The biggest output of tops came over the Ford plant shutdowns, when many Ford team members went from Flat Rock and MAP to help produce at Webasto.

Ford essentially took control of the plant a few months ago and have been slowly righting the ship, but we can't overstate just how big of a mess it was: New design, new tooling, toxic management, and major supply chain issues.

Any insight on what the production number progress/timeline might be on the tops themselves? This might of been covered but what is the goal number for tops to be made a day?

 

[GritDoc]

A quick clarification: The MIC hard top for the Bronco is a vastly different design consisting of a honeycomb core with thin sheets top and bottom. They are not simple injection molded panels. The manufacturing process is completely different and obviously more complicated.

Additionally, the staffing situation at the Plymouth plant has been *anything* but stable since the doors opened. Plant leadership created a toxic atmosphere that quickly chased out just about any team member who could positively contribute. While many of these problems were covered up by the lack of resin needed to manufacture tops in an appreciable capacity (thanks, COVID!), the plant has been a mess. The biggest output of tops came over the Ford plant shutdowns, when many Ford team members went from Flat Rock and MAP to help produce at Webasto.

Ford essentially took control of the plant a few months ago and have been slowly righting the ship, but we can't overstate just how big of a mess it was: New design, new tooling, toxic management, and major supply chain issues.

Any word on first edition scheduling?

 

[ahtussey]

Dude, Ford needs to pay you. Seriously. Hell, I bet most of us would be willing to pay you for the information you provide. Both good and bad. Thanks!

100% agree. Thanks Ross for the info...you keep hope alive

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