Ford is back at the drawing board, and this time they’ve decided that Lincoln needs to get its boots dirty. The latest rumor suggests that the Blue Oval is cooking up a Lincoln-badged monster to rival the Mercedes G-Class. They want to take the rugged, mud-slinging Ford Bronco and slap a Navigator grille on it, hoping we won’t notice the T6.2 platform underneath is the same one used by the Ranger to haul bags of mulch.
Scheduled for a 2030 debut, this “Lincoln Bronco” is the ultimate admission that the industry’s obsession with turning every car into a silent, electric lounge is hitting a brick wall. While Ford is busy converting factories like Louisville for a theoretical “affordable EV” future, Lincoln is pivoting toward the only thing that still makes people reach for their checkbooks: legitimate off-road capability wrapped in leather.
The reality is that the luxury EV market has reached its limit. One-third of Lincoln dealers have already bailed on Ford’s EV certification program, essentially telling the corporate suits where they can shove their electric mandates.
For years, Western brands have been obsessively tailoring their lineups to the Chinese market, stuffing dashboards with giant iPads and AI assistants that no one actually asked for. Now, the Chinese domestic brands are doing the same thing for half the price, leaving Lincoln with a fleet of overpriced gadgets that North Americans are starting to snub.
Buyers are tired of paying six-figure prices for “tech packages” that are really just cost-cutting measures disguised as innovation. They want something substantial. A body-on-frame beast that can climb a mountain.
But let’s look at the numbers. Mercedes only sells about 9,500 G-Wagons a year in the US in a good year. Is there really room for a Lincoln-badged Bronco to survive in a segment that’s already being swamped by Audi and Land Rover? Anyway, trying to justify a price tag that needs to stay south of the G-Wagon’s while Ford simultaneously doubles the price of the standard Bronco through “upgrades” is a dangerous game.
