UPDATE: During the Detroit Auto Show, Ford said they will bring back the Ranger in 2019 and the Bronco in 2020. According to Autoweek, production for the Ranger will kick off in 2018 at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant. No word yet on when the Bronco will begin production, but it will reportedly be built at the Michigan plant too.
The following article was originally published on Oct. 3, 2016.
We did it, y'all. After years of begging Ford to bring back their legendary Bronco and Ranger trucks, the company caved.
Fans made petitions and concept designs. Message board across the internet speculated about a return. Facebook nearly blew up when heartless websites posted April Fools articles declaring the trucks were back. Ford even seemingly teased Bronco fans about it.
But all of that attention finally made a difference. And ironically enough, it's kind of thanks to Donald Trump. Or at least thanks to fact checkers who revealed Ford's plans while investigating a lie Trump told about manufacturing.
During the Presidential debate, Trump claimed Ford planned to ship away jobs to Mexico. The company countered, saying that they're moving production of one more product to Mexico to make room for production of two new products.
There is no impact on US jobs. Ford?s American workers will build 2 new vehicles at the US plant where small cars are made today.
— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) September 27, 2016
A little more information from the United Auto Workers revealed what we'd all hoped. Those two new vehicles are the Bronco and the Ranger. Note that the image this article uses is a fan concept of the Bronco. Ford hasn't released any designs as of yet.
A fan concept of the new Bronco. This is not what it will look like. Image: Bronco6G.com
UAW rep Bill Johnson may have let the cat out of the bag officially while talking to the Detroit Free Press. "I think Trump needs to get his facts straight," Johnson said. "He is absolutely beating up on Ford for doing what everybody else has already done. We hate to see the products go to Mexico, but with the Ranger and the Bronco coming to Michigan Assembly, that absolutely secures the future for our people a lot more than the Focus does."
So when will they get here? It's hard to say exactly. Since the plan to move the Focus to Mexico will take 2 to 3 years, it's safe to say it may be 2020 before we see the 21st century Bronco and Ranger. And 2020 can't get here fast enough.