2022 Ford Bronco order banks set to open as reservation holders continue to wait

Ford dealers confirmed this week that order banks will open soon for the 2022 Bronco, prompting both excitement over new features and renewed consternation from customers who have yet to take delivery of their 2021 models. 

Yep, 2022 is the year of the manual Sasquatch. Ford confirmed last September that customers would be able to place an order for a seven-speed model with the 35" tires, locking diffs and fancy trail gadgets by the end of 2021. On that level, it appears the company has come through, but as holders of reservations for 2021 models will gladly tell you, ordering one is no guarantee you'll get a car any time soon. Many customers who placed orders in July 2020 are still awaiting a slot at their local dealers.

The pandemic and associated ongoing supply issues put a serious damper on the relaunch of Ford's iconic 4x4 nameplate, with some dealers receiving fewer total cars in 2021 than they had reservations, and that total included models intended for general inventory, not just those who ordered cars. This is expected to continue into 2022, and may in fact be exacerbated by Ford's efforts to get a larger number of cars into circulation, even if it means leaving reservation holders in the lurch.

Dealers have reported that Ford's announced allocation strategy for 2022 will more heavily favor high-volume dealers, with existing customer reservations falling from a potential of 50% of incoming models to just 25%, meaning that even if Ford can produce the cars people ordered in 2020, they may not get top priority when it comes to assembly and delivery if they placed their order through a smaller dealership. 

One dealer representative on Bronco6g.com described the ongoing frustration for both customers and dealers (emphasis from the original post): 

"To recap 2021, we received allocation of 203 units. This was on roughly 600 reservations we received before the allocation cutoff. It was reasonable to assume that moving from 6 to 12 months of production would safely bump our allocation to around 400. It was also a reasonable assumption that including all reservations as a factor, instead of just the September cutoff (1300+ reservations), would double our allocation count again to around 800 units. Adjusted down slightly, we were anticipating 700-ish Broncos for 2022. That isn’t how it is going to work out. Moving the “bronco” factor down from 50% to 25% and moving the factor from reservations to 2021 allocations was the worst possible scenario for our customers. We are left with 1075 orders converted from reservations currently. I would anticipate being able to fill 10-20% of our reservation count for 2022. That amounts to 120-220 Units depending on how production plays out. We received 11 for 2022 Model Year production startup."

As for those who are too impatient to wait for what might be a 2023 model? The dealer quoted above, Granger Ford in Iowa, is offering reservation owners a Bronco Sport instead at 6% under invoice — and, unfortunately for Ford, Granger also has a Jeep store and will let people move into a Wrangler or Gladiator at 4% under invoice.