Many Bronco Enthusiasts Upset With Limited Interior Color Options

The highly anticipated build-and-price configurator (BAP) for the 2021 Ford Bronco is now live on Ford’s website. This has been a long time coming. So naturally, enthusiasts jumped on the site and built their Bronco the way they envisioned. Or at least they thought they envisioned it.

There was some immediate disappointment in the lack of variety for the interior, especially as it relates to the First Edition Bronco Two-Door and Four-Door.

There are only five exterior colors available for the First Edition (FE) Bronco including Cactus Gray, Area 51, Rapid Red, Cyber Orange and Lightning Blue. When it comes to interior colors there’s only Black Onyx interior and Dark Space Gray With Navy Pier seats (available in leather-trimmed vinyl).

“The color and material offerings of the all-new Bronco and Bronco Sport are genuine and trusted, and establish a visceral connection between nature and the authenticity of this new family of rugged SUVs,” said Missy Coolsaet, Bronco color and materials designer. “They motivate our customers to return to the wilderness and challenge themselves – and Bronco takes them there in a carefree, spontaneous way.”

Mr. Farley, May We Have Some More Options?
Some of the passionate Bronco fans from the enthusiast website bronco6g.com took to Twitter to voice their displeasure over the lack of interior color options as well as the lack of a soft-top roof.

They even caught the eye of Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley, who Tweeted back to them. Getting the CEO of a company like Ford to respond to you is impressive. Well done, Mr. Farley. Now, maybe he can get his design staff to offer some alternative options to the black with Space Gray/Navy Pier. Some feel this really clashes with some of the exterior colors, especially the very cool Cyber Orange.

See the Tweets below.

I’m no design expert and can barely get myself dressed to match, but I would agree that an orange interior should not have blue stitching accents inside.

One passionate Bronco6G forum user told me: “Get rid of all those different color combos for each platform and make it easy. As a base throughout the entire lineup, just start with an all-black interior, black cloth seats with white stitching, it's super simple and goes with any paint job and will make production easier. Throw in some pops of color with the grab handles, dash panel and vent trim that match the exterior paint and you're done.”

That same user went on to say: “Most of this mess is from the exterior paint vs interior color choices. Some of them look decent if you're sticking with the earthy colors or grays but when you get into the bright fun colors it's a total disaster.” And his final solution to this problem seems pretty logical to me.

“You could get a myriad of great looks with just a few options that would satisfy the majority of people. Exterior paint jobs with black, any of the reds, blues and grays with black interior and white MGV seats. White, black, reds or cyber orange with brown/tan leather or just any color (including future paint colors) with just black cloth or leather. “

Matching the Teaser Vehicles of the Ford Bronco
Ford released the first production run as promotion vehicles for various events. I wrote about it here.

The enthusiasts overwhelmingly loved the saddle brown color they saw with the Cyber Orange two-door promo vehicle. It led them to believe they too could order one like that. But sadly, saddle brown was not an option at all, despite Ford saying the interior and exterior colors were inspired by nature and heritage.

This was deemed misleading by some in the Bronco community, and I surely understand why they felt that way. Perhaps there’s still time to get new interior color options, although that would surely delay deliveries even further.

Adventure Inspired Rugged Interior Of Ford Bronco
According to Ford, Bronco designers lived alongside off-road enthusiasts on the trails to learn how they use their SUVs. Along the way, they collected items that served as design inspiration once they were back in Dearborn.
Among the key artifacts: an old, worn baseball mitt, backpacking gear and treads of a trail running shoe. A vintage leather Filson briefcase and leather watch band influenced interior leather trim selections, while an old fisherman’s net served as inspiration for the MOLLE hook storage system on board Bronco and Bronco Sport.

“There’s a real honesty to these items that’s subtle and still rugged like a Bronco interior should be,” said Coolsaet. “Just like an old baseball glove, they’re meant to be used rough – getting better with age and emulating the customer’s adventure prowess as the vehicle ages.”

Bronco two- and four-door interior colors are fresh and natural with five primary themes including Medium Sandstone with Black Onyx, Dark Space Gray with Black Onyx, Roast with Black Onyx, Black Onyx with Dark Cactus, and Navy Pier with Dark Space Gray. Several series feature Active Orange and Grabber Blue accents on grab handles, door trim and seat stitching.

The design team’s travels led to the creation of a washable interior for Bronco two- and four-door models, with available mold-resistant marine-grade vinyl seating surfaces and durable vinyl washout flooring with active drain plugs for easy cleanup after a day of off-roading.

The Bronco enthusiasts will let their voices be heard. We already saw the ramifications when they asked for the manual transmission on the Sasquatch trim. And Ford listened then. So, will Ford listen again and give them some more interior options. If Ford is to compete with Jeep, as they seem likely to do with the Bronco, then they need these enthusiasts on board.

To placate them seems like only the smart move, otherwise they may opt for a less expensive trim and then spend more in the aftermarket making the Bronco that they want. That will happen anyway to a lesser extent, but Ford would be wise to give them more now.

Let me hear your thoughts. Have you built your Bronco? What were you disappointed about or excited about? Leave me a comment below.

Jimmy Dinsmore has been an automotive journalist for more than a decade and been a writer since the high school. His Driver’s Side column features new car reviews and runs in several newspapers throughout the country. He is also co-author of the book “Mustang by Design” and “Ford Trucks: A Unique Look at the Technical History of America’s Most Popular Truck”. Also, Jimmy works in the social media marketing world for a Canadian automotive training aid manufacturing company. Follow Jimmy on Facebook, Twitter, at his special Ford F-150 coverage on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can read the most of Jimmy's stories by searching Torque News Ford for daily Ford vehicle report.