TIPPING IN
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DAN HEYMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF | TRQ dheyman@vicariousmag.com
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s you can tell from the cover, in this issue of TRQ, we have a review of the all-new Ford Bronco. It is a very cool take on the legend that debuted about year after the Mustang did and it does well to separate itself from the Bronco Sport we talked about in our second issue.
while I initially thought electrification would hurt its off-road chops, it hasn’t, really. In fact, the argument can be made that it’s actually helped the 4xe perform in the kinds of conditions Jeep people have come to know and love.
All that being said, though, I’m going to say this: it doesn’t matter I am a big fan of it – me, and a whole that Ford hasn’t so far released an heck of a lot of other people I’ve electrified Bronco. spoken to, read and watched – but I was surprised to find just how much The Bronco is pretty much the defihandwringing came with its arrival nition of a “halo” vehicle; that is to say a vehicle that draws people into (after many delays) to dealers. a manufacturer’s showroom, one It should come as little surprise that is the mega of a certain aspect that the lion’s share of said hand- – in this case, AWD SUVs and wringing has to do with the fact crossovers – of their line-up. that it hasn’t arrived with a hybrid powertrain of any kind – no mild If they needed the Bronco to be a hybrid, no plug-in hybrid, no EV vehicle to showcase their chops in version. According to what I’ve seen, the world of electrification, then that is a major travesty and much of they would have done so. But they it stems from the fact that Ford has already have the Mach-E for that. gone so all-in on EVs lately with the I like the tack they took with the likes of the Mustang Mach-E and Bronco because with the retro F-150 Powerboost hybrid pickup. styling, no-bones-about-it offOf course, that isn’t really a “Ford” road worthiness and that classic thing; that’s an “industry” thing as nameplate, it reminds me of when governments continue to mandate vehicles served a more singular no internal-combustion (ICE) sales purpose, when they didn’t have to by x year and so on. Ford, like every be all things to all people and didn’t other manufacturer out there, has have to bow too heavily to governto abide by those rules or they are ment mandates. It’s like a teleport back to a simpler times, but with dead in the water. a surprisingly hi-tech interior that Then there’s the fact that the places it just the right amount in Bronco’s biggest competitor – the the past and present. Jeep Wrangler – recently received the electrification treatment with Far as I’m concerned, vehicles like the arrival of the 4xe variant. I’ve the Bronco need to be celebrated driven that vehicle, and I was just the way they are. No more, no pleased with it mainly because less.
