Ford used its early morning session on the first press day of NAIAS 2017 to announce the return of two classic nameplates to its lineup. The Dearborn automaker will soon expand its utility and SUV lineup with the rebirths of the Bronco and Ranger.
During their big media event today here in Detroit, the automaker promised five new utility vehicles for their model line by 2020. The first two new faces will be familiar Ford enthusiasts as both the Bronco and Ranger for decades before their now temporary retirement.
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The Bronco utility vehicle enjoyed a 30-year run with Ford until it bowed out in 1996. The timing of its benching is unavoidably and unfairly linked to O.J. Simpson after an innocent and unsuspecting White Bronco was used as his escape vehicle along the LA freeways after committing double murder.
Clearly, Ford believes enough time went by now to bring the vehicle back for a 2020 debut. That far out, there’s no images for the vehicle yet behind the top secret planning documents and models hidden away in Dearborn.
The new Ford Ranger will arrive one annum earlier with production beginning in Michigan late next year for a 2019 arrival. As it was before it was briefly set aside in 2012, the Ranger will be a compact pickup truck to offer direction competition to popular rivals like the Toyota Tacoma and the GMC Canyon.
Prices and options for both vehicles are too far off to announce, but auto show scheduling suggests we should get a glimpse of the Ranger next year in Los Angeles, New York or here in Detroit in 12 months’ time.
