Ford to help 100 dealers add Bronco-only showrooms

Ford dealers are seeing so much interest in the 2021 Bronco and Bronco Sport that they've asked Ford for help branding dedicated showrooms. According to Automotive News (subscription required), approximately 100 dealers intend to open new Bronco-only brand spaces attached to their existing Ford/Lincoln branches.

Renderings shown at Ford's national dealer meeting in October depict an outdoors-themed space featuring lots of wood and other earthy elements, with plenty of room in between for displaying inventory. The idea originated with dealers, who want to capitalize on shopper interest in the reborn SUV and its derivatives.

These new, Bronco-exclusive spaces will be decked out strictly with branding lifted from Ford's revived 4x4 nameplate (don't expect to see Ford logos everywhere, in other words). Dealers who opt in will see "slightly increased allocations," and, presumably, higher priority for customer orders and special-edition models, of which there will likely be many.

Despite this advantage, Ford's U.S. sales chief Andrew Frick told AN, this is entirely at the discretion of dealers. Unlike other somewhat recent examples (Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Genesis), there is no corporate mandate for opening these showrooms. The spaces will come in three flavors: a full-blown showroom, an expansion of existing space, or a smaller display that can fit within an existing floorplan, giving dealers "an option for pretty much any budget," Frisk said.

These dedicated spaces could start opening before dealers receive enough inventory to stock them, as the full-size Bronco's launch has been pushed back due to COVID and related supply chain complications.

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