Ford team creates China-specific trim for new Bronco

The Ford China Design Centre has tried its hand at some China-specific variants of the new Bronco, building on the idea of the Great American Outdoors. In the team’s own words, there has “never been a better time” to introduce the Bronco to adventurous locals in China.

Car Design News has already explored the overall design of the new Bronco in depth at the time of its release, which you can read more about here. This particular exercise was more a study of tailoring the CMF to suit a Chinese audience, and as the brand points out, there are similar domestic trends around camping and exploring the country’s sprawling, diverse landscape.

Six new exterior colours have been introduced, with crystal pearl-white, panther black, terrain (a chalky beige), vapor blue, cactus gray, eruption green. Interior themes include the Everglades and Badlands, which offer olive and grey/yellow/white combinations respectively.

The mission, Ford says, was to design a series of trims that would appeal to modern Chinese customers without compromising the model’s iconic heritage. Ahead of its official reveal at the Beijing auto show this week, we heard from Simon Brook, chief designer at the Ford China Design Centre, about his expectations for how this tailored version of the Bronco might resonate with locals. As it turns out, the team has already been testing the waters and the feedback has been positive.

“We had the opportunity to showcase the China Bronco at launch events in both Beijing and Shanghai Fashion Week to connect to the trends that inspired the design expressions,” Brook explains. “The feedback has been outstanding,” he adds, recognising the authenticity of the model’s heritage as a “functional and robust adventurer.” There was also a clear appreciation of how the interior had been elevated to more of a premium experience.

The overall aim was to combine quintessential American and Chinese design themes, and by all accounts Brook says the two sides have married well. “There has been a huge shift towards the outdoors for recreation and adventure to experience the diversity of China’s landscapes and escaping the dense urban environments,” says Brook. “We see this continuing and the Bronco, with the tuning for the China customer’s sensibilities resonating extremely well… The perfect vehicle to adapt to all scenarios.”

As for the main differences between the China-specific Bronco and the one sold in the North America, Jeffrey Liu, CMF design manager at the Ford China Design Centre, emphasises it mainly comes down to craftsmanship.

“The China Bronco aims to deliver on all the attributes of the North American Ford Bronco such as capability, modularity and robustness with an enhanced focus of a more luxurious interior experience,” he says. “We achieved this by creating more wrapped soft-touch surfaces, refined textures and crafted details. Chinese consumers are discerning, style conscious and in tune with current trends, so the CMF design themes are unique to the China market, delivering vibrant and fashion forward concepts.”

Car design is very much a global practice today, and most if not all major brands have outposts in each major market, China included. How does the Shanghai design centre work with the mothership in the US? “It’s a very close relationship,” says Liu, “especially when it comes to working on an icon like the Bronco. We worked together to ensure the unique taste of the customer – in each region – is met but with a combined goal of being authentic to the soul of the product.”

Ultimately, says Liu, rethinking the Bronco for China was far more collaborative than just sharing ideas remotely. “Not only did the team meet virtually and share physical samples at each key milestone, we were also able to influence each other’s product to improve on quality and execution moving forward.”