The Ford Bronco has had its fair share of issues in its rollout, but there’s at least one good piece of news: Ford Authority reports that despite the manual transmission’s waning popularity, one in every four Bronco buyers has opted for one.
Although we see things like this on other off-road enthusiast vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler which has a 30-35 percent manual take rate, the news is rather surprising for the Bronco because the 7-speed can only be equipped with the base 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine, not the more powerful 2.7-liter V6.
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And on the topic of popular options, Ford Authority reports that over 50 percent of Bronco buyers ordered theirs with the off-road-focused Sasquatch Package. Other significant statistics include the fact that 73 percent of buyers opt for the four-door over the two-door, 70 percent of orders are for the four most expensive trims (Outer Banks, Badlands, Wildtrak, and First Edition), and 66 percent of the reservations placed thus far have been converted into an order.
Additionally, the manual transmission was not originally available with the desirable Sasquatch Package, which could’ve turned some people off to it who would’ve otherwise preferred it to an automatic. However, now that the package will be available with the manual, we could see the stick shift-equipped Bronco’s take rate rise and possibly equal or even exceed that of the Jeep Wrangler. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.