S. America-built SUV shares little with old namesake
By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News
Can an SUV carry too much baggage?
Perhaps, if it’s called Bronco.
Despite the potentially negative imagery associated with it — rollover lawsuits, O.J. Simpson’s televised flight from police — Ford Motor Co. is reviving the Bronco name with a rugged SUV concept based on a vehicle it builds and sells in South America.
“It’s a good name,” said Phil Martens, group vice president for North America product creation at Ford.
The Bronco concept, in fact, looks little like the 1988 model that earned a one-star rollover rating from Washington’s vehicle safety watchdog three years ago. And it has no visual cues to link it with the vehicle Simpson used in a failed attempt to run from police following his wife’s murder.
Despite the baggage, many American have fond memories of the large and rugged SUV.
“True to its heritage, the Bronco concept is a tough, genuine SUV that’s all about function,” said J Mays, Ford’s group vice president for design.
Featuring a 2.0L turbo-diesel engine equipped with a nitrous-oxide injection system to boost horsepower, the Bronco is shouldered by the same underpinnings that support the Ford EcoSport. Built in Brazil, the EcoSport is smaller than the Escape — Ford’s smallest North American SUV.
Acclaimed for its styling, functionality and driving dynamics, the EcoSport was such a hit in South America that Ford will begin exporting it next month to Central America and the Caribbean. There are no plans, however, to sell it in North America — just as there are no plans to build the Bronco concept.
Also making their auto show debut with Bronco are production versions of the Ford Five Hundred sedan and the Freestyle, a minivan-SUV fusion. Scheduled for production in Chicago later this year, they share the same underpinnings along with the Mercury Montego sedan, which will debut next month at the Chicago Auto Show.
Ford isn’t sure yet which will be the hot seller.
“We thought the sedan would be the volume product,” Martens said. “We may be wrong. We haven’t set that up yet. We’re going to watch the feedback we get from Detroit.”
Both vehicles will feature available all-wheel drive and a fuel-stingy continuously variable transmission (SVT).
Ford also will use the occasion to debut the 2005 Mustang and Focus. The former has been re-engineered for greater refinement and the latter benefits from a new four-cylinder engine designed by Mazda Motor Corp.
By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News
Can an SUV carry too much baggage?
Perhaps, if it’s called Bronco.
Despite the potentially negative imagery associated with it — rollover lawsuits, O.J. Simpson’s televised flight from police — Ford Motor Co. is reviving the Bronco name with a rugged SUV concept based on a vehicle it builds and sells in South America.
“It’s a good name,” said Phil Martens, group vice president for North America product creation at Ford.
The Bronco concept, in fact, looks little like the 1988 model that earned a one-star rollover rating from Washington’s vehicle safety watchdog three years ago. And it has no visual cues to link it with the vehicle Simpson used in a failed attempt to run from police following his wife’s murder.
Despite the baggage, many American have fond memories of the large and rugged SUV.
“True to its heritage, the Bronco concept is a tough, genuine SUV that’s all about function,” said J Mays, Ford’s group vice president for design.
Featuring a 2.0L turbo-diesel engine equipped with a nitrous-oxide injection system to boost horsepower, the Bronco is shouldered by the same underpinnings that support the Ford EcoSport. Built in Brazil, the EcoSport is smaller than the Escape — Ford’s smallest North American SUV.
Acclaimed for its styling, functionality and driving dynamics, the EcoSport was such a hit in South America that Ford will begin exporting it next month to Central America and the Caribbean. There are no plans, however, to sell it in North America — just as there are no plans to build the Bronco concept.
Also making their auto show debut with Bronco are production versions of the Ford Five Hundred sedan and the Freestyle, a minivan-SUV fusion. Scheduled for production in Chicago later this year, they share the same underpinnings along with the Mercury Montego sedan, which will debut next month at the Chicago Auto Show.
Ford isn’t sure yet which will be the hot seller.
“We thought the sedan would be the volume product,” Martens said. “We may be wrong. We haven’t set that up yet. We’re going to watch the feedback we get from Detroit.”
Both vehicles will feature available all-wheel drive and a fuel-stingy continuously variable transmission (SVT).
Ford also will use the occasion to debut the 2005 Mustang and Focus. The former has been re-engineered for greater refinement and the latter benefits from a new four-cylinder engine designed by Mazda Motor Corp.