The 2021 Ford Bronco is finally here, and shots have officially been fired directly at Jeep’s bread and butter.

Competition is a good thing, and I think the Bronco will do very well. Ford essentially took all of the complaints that Wrangler owners have made public for decades and built solutions to those pain points into the Bronco design.

Not only did Ford address the Wrangler’s negatives… they one-upped many of the positives. Bigger tires, lower crawl ratio, more torque and horsepower, to name a few. The fact that you can get 35 inch tires, off road suspension, front and rear lockers, and lower axle gears on a base Bronco from the factory (not as dealer add-ons) is certainly going to attract buyers… and make some rethink their plans to buy a Rubicon.

Jeep’s pre-launch response to the Bronco was to release a 6.4L Hemi V8 concept Wrangler. The 392 concept is cool… but they’ve been putting HEMIs in Wrangler concepts for like 10 years… and we’re yet to see a production V8 in an open top Jeep. The release simply felt like a press grab on Ford’s big day… let them have their time to shine… and let’s see how the Bronco actually performs off road compared to the current JL Wrangler.