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Ford deliberately came for Jeep’s top spot as the first choice for off-road goes by bringing the Bronco back in 2021. Since the Bronco’s discontinuation in 1996, Jeep’s Wrangler has been the top-selling off-road SUV consecutively for several years, with little in its way as far as competitors go for the last 25 years.
When Ford came back swinging, off-road enthusiasts were excited to have something to compete against the Wrangler directly. Especially since Toyota discontinued the Land Cruiser the very same year, too.
Ford’s sales were promising the first year of the Bronco’s return, especially since it was offered in so many trim levels and colors. The Bronco Sport helped propel Ford forward, too.
However, Jeep then announced the Wrangler 4xe which – despite its unimpressive combined mileage figures – is the best-selling hybrid in America. It’s also the best-selling Wrangler trim, too. Ford, on the other hand, doesn’t offer the Bronco in a hybrid form, so sales are starting to dip for the American carmaker.
Ford’s Bronco sales are slowing down… But so are Jeep’s
So far for January, the Jeep Wrangler tops Ford with 13,672. The Honda Pilot is just after the Wrangler, with the Bronco following behind at 12,067 sales.
The Sport slightly bests the Mazda CX-5’s sales before the standard Bronco Sport makes 11,361 sales.
On the other hand, the Jeep Compass, which is comparable to the Bronco Sport, had lower sales with just over 9,000. However, the Jeep Wagoneer sold just 2,081 units in January. The Grand Wagoneer did even worse, with just 637 sales.
Sales for the Ford EcoSport, however, read exactly zero for January. The automaker’s best-selling model was the Explorer, which went to 47,295 homes. The Escape was close on the Explorer’s heels with 36,383 sales, and the Bronco and Bronco Sport followed suit.
Looks like the Bronco has a chance to catch up
With the PHEV version of the Bronco coming this year, Ford has a chance to get its leg up on Jeep. If Ford can configure the Bronco PHEV to have better mileage than the Wrangler 4xe PHEV, there’s a good chance the month of its debut could move the company ahead of its arch-nemesis.
The exact engine choice and hybrid system aren’t known, but since the brand’s PHEVs have been selling fairly well, it bodes well for Ford.
Jeep recently revealed the Wagoneer S, which is an all-electric version of the Grand Wagoneer. It’s coming out the same year as Ford’s EV Explorer, so we’re excited to see how the rivalry plays out in the next couple of months.