Bronco And Lightning Mark New Direction For Ford

The automotive industry is an immensely colorful and ever-changing world full of new ideas and concepts. At the moment, it's probably facing the most significant changes in its entire existence. Not only are we on the brink of accepting EVs as default vehicles, but we are close to completely changing the way we order and buy our cars.

Again, Ford is leading the field in innovation, as well as in skillfully analyzing the best concepts for the future. At the moment, several key factors are especially instrumental in Ford's success.

Massive Success Of Four New Models

With almost 200,000 reservations for the new Bronco and about 120,000 for the new F150 Lightning, Ford holds the distinction of offering two of the hottest cars in the world at the moment. There's also the Mach-E, which is giving Teslas a really hard time, and the compact Maverick, which is re-introducing the concept of a small, inexpensive, and immensely practical pickup truck.

Ford’s strategy of leaving the realm of passenger cars to concentrate on pickups, SUVs, and the Mustang is really paying off, and these numbers really show it.

However, with such high demand come big problems, mainly in production. As you probably know, Ford has faced supply issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the global chip shortage has also hit it very hard. At the moment, predictions are that the semiconductor chip supply will be normalized by mid-2022.

As much as it would like to, Ford just can't make as many vehicles as its customers want. Right now, it seems that customers are showing surprising patience and are willing to wait for their new SUVs, trucks, and EVs. But, if the wait is too long, customers will no doubt retreat.

New Designs, Concepts, Technology

Taking chances can sometimes pays off big time and Ford has just experienced this with four of its newest models. Investing in electric vehicles and brand new platforms, as well as resurrecting old names like the Bronco and Lighting has worked wonders with Ford's standing in the automotive community.

However, probably the biggest gamble of all was combining one of the brightest stars in Ford’s galaxy with modern technology while creating the Mustang Mach-E. With this model, the Blue Oval showed that it's not afraid of risk and that it is willing to bet heavily on future technology.

Besides that, customers like to see companies that are willing to dedicate their efforts to achieve greater results. Ford has begun to emerge as a particularly innovative company, while making GM or Chrysler look outdated by comparison.

Stealing Customers From Other Brands

It's especially noteworthy that the large number of orders and sales that Ford is currently experiencing is made up of a surprisingly high percentage of entirely new customers. In fact, in the case of F150 Lighting, over 80% of people who have reserved the model were new to Ford. In the case of Bronco, this number is about 40%. We can expect that around 60% of Maverick buyers will also be unique to Ford as a brand.

Attracting new buyers has a greater implication than just increased car sales for the present. It's also very important in growing Ford’s market share bigger and adding new potential future members to its fast-growing family. Gaining so many first-time customers means that Ford has stolen other manufacturers' business, so those competitors have lost sales.

It's also guaranteed that, for the next few years, the customer support, parts, service, and aftermarket sides of the business will be booming as well.

Big Profit Ensures an Interesting Future

Ford just posted $1.1 billion in profit for Q1 of 2021, which is an astonishing figure, considering that there's a computer chip shortage still gripping the industry and competitors are having trouble delivering vehicles, despite their sales also being strong.

Even though actual sales numbers are theoretically just half of what they could be if production output could be normalized, this is a fantastic result.

We're sure that big profit numbers will continue to come in Ford’s case, since the next couple of years will be filled with new models, versions, trim levels, and a few crucial releases, like the 2023 Mustang.

Healthy sales, big profits, and a rising customer base will mean that the company will have more money to invest in its products, so we'll see even more cool cars wearing that signature blue oval badge on their hoods in the future.