Ford just reached out to its dealers to explain how it will allocate the 2021 Bronco. It started assembling pre-production Broncos this week. As it inches closer to deliveries in the spring of 2021 it obviously has a winner on its hands. Bronco in all of its variations is one of the most anticipated vehicles to launch in recent memory. But is Ford’s plan to allocate the Bronco a fair plan? Let’s look.

Ford will crank up the Bronco build and price info website next month-October 2020

Ford will crank up the Bronco build and price info website next month-October 2020. Starting in November dealers with $100 deposits from potential customers will start contacting them to convert that deposit into an actual order. They will confirm options, colors, prices, and financing. By February Ford will be able to give those customers a general time when they can expect to take delivery. 

Currently, Ford has about 165,000 deposits according to Automotive News. Mark LaNeve, vice president of US marketing, sales, and service, told AN it expects to conquest over 75% of those deposits into sales. Filling those reservations will take going into 2022. Ford expects to lose more sales as confirmations get pushed out into and past 2021. 

How Ford will allocate the Bronco is an interesting plan

Who gets what and when is an interesting plan. The dealer allocation will be based on the size of its market, how many SUVs it has sold within a certain timeframe, how many Bronco reservations it is holding, and “competitive off-road registrations” in the dealer’s vicinity. 

Says LaNeve, “We’re really trying to have an equitable and fair process for allocating to dealers. We have dealers that will get hundreds of Broncos allocated to them in 2021 and you go from there. Bigger dealers with lots of reservations will generate the most allocation, but we’re going to try and take care of every dealer who has reservations.”

The volume at which the Bronco will be built and how many is not being addressed by Ford. Before COVID-19 Ford said that sales of Bronco family vehicles including both two-and four-door Bronco and Bronco Sport were estimated to be at least 200,000. It is unknown how far back the Bronco launch has been pushed.

How many Bronco Sport compared to full-size Bronco reservations have been taken?

The question of how many Bronco Sport compared to the full-size Bronco reservations have been taken has not been revealed. LaNeve told AN it was “a lot less than the two-door and four-door but still significant.” He did say that both the Bronco Sport and the new F-150 will come out at the same time. Right now that date is sometime in November. 

Other than training and certain displays no dealers need any upgrades to sell the Bronco. They will be required to forge a business plan with at least one of the eight accessory distribution centers that are in the Ford system. As of now, there are over 200 accessories that have been developed for the Bronco. Some are aftermarket components with a wave of more to come once the Bronco is actually in dealer showrooms.