Ford's 750-Mile, $33,000 Bronco Comes With One Major Catch

Range anxiety is still the number one reason people hesitate before going electric. For SUV buyers especially, the ask is simple: give me something efficient. Ford quietly answered that question in China. The company partnered with Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) to build the Bronco New Energy, a mid-size SUV that comes in two flavors: a full EV and an extended-range EV. The EREV version uses a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine purely as a generator for its 43.7 kWh battery, delivering a claimed 748 miles of total range. Starting at around $33,000, it's a genuinely compelling machine. One that’s on sale in China, recently Australia as well, but America will probably never get it.

A Different Bronco Under the Skin

Despite wearing familiar Bronco styling, this is an entirely different vehicle from the one sold in the US. Where the American Bronco is body-on-frame and built for serious trail work, the Bronco New Energy is a unibody monocoque, based on a JMC platform. It shares no parts with the Bronco or the Bronco Sport. The EREV variant produces 415 horsepower while the full EV pushes 445 hp backed by a much larger 105 kWh battery good for around 404 miles. In China, the EREV starts around $33,000 and tops out around $40,000, with the EV pricing in the same ballpark. 

Compare that to the US, where a base Bronco two-door starts closer to $36,000 and a well-specced four-door pushes well past $50,000, with zero electrification on offer. The trade-off for the unibody platform is real, though. The monocoque design means no convertible top, less raw off-road articulation, and a fundamentally different character from what Bronco loyalists expect. What you get instead is a more refined, family-friendly SUV that happens to wear the Bronco badge.

Why It Will Never Cross the Pacific

The reasons this Bronco stays in China are stacked. The entire supply chain lives there; the platform is JMC's, and importing it would trigger substantial tariffs. There are also open questions about whether it meets US crash test requirements or emissions standards. Then there is the growing legislative scrutiny around Chinese software and hardware in vehicles sold on American soil.

Ford is working on an EREV version of the F-150 Lightning and has hinted at broader electrification plans, but the Bronco New Energy is not part of that roadmap. Scout will launch its own EREVs in 2027, and if customer interest is any indication, it'll be popular. The technology is clearly where the market is headed. It increasingly looks like Ford built the right answer, just in the wrong place.

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