The Ford Bronco may still outrank the Jeep Wrangler in the minds of enthusiasts when it comes to hype and interest but in terms of concrete sales, the much older Jeep still outsells its splashier competitor by almost 2-to-1.
Looking at the most recent sales numbers from both Ford and Jeep, the Blue Oval sold 54,842 Broncos year-to-date through the end of June whereas Jeep sold 99,497 Wranglers over the same period. Breaking out the ol’ TI-83, that’s 1.81 Wranglers for every Bronco. As another fun fact, 20 percent of those Wranglers sold—10,861, to be exact—were 4xes, making it the best-selling plug-in hybrid in the U.S.
Interestingly, the Bronco name actually outsells the Wrangler because Ford sold 58,549 Bronco Sports in addition to those regular Broncos, which add up to 113,391 vehicles with the word Bronco on it. However, because the Bronco Sport is an Escape-based unibody compact crossover and not at all a real competitor to the Wrangler, it definitely shouldn’t be counted in the comparison.
All of that being said, I’m not sure the Bronco-Wrangler sales disparity really reflects demand. With the market the way it is these days, the amount of cars an automaker happens to sell probably has less to do with how many people want and more with how many the company itself can churn out. I’ve reached out to Ford to ask if it has any insight into why Bronco sales (or, likely more accurately, production) are lagging behind its chief competitor and will update this story when I hear back.
The fact that Wrangler sales are still going quite strong despite the Bronco’s introduction also refutes the notion that “every Bronco on the road is one fewer Wrangler,” a common sentiment at the height of that Ford’s hype cycle. Case in point: the 99,497 Wranglers that Jeep has sold so far this year only represents a 16 percent drop from last year, when the Bronco wasn’t nearly as available. Looking at Wrangler sales in 2021 versus 2020, the numbers stayed pretty much the same. It seems like Americans just want tall, boxy, rugged off-roaders, no matter who happens to be making it or how badly they do in crash tests.
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