After a 25-Year Absence, an Iconic SUV Is 'Out of the Corral'

One of Ford's most iconic vehicles hasn't left the factory for a quarter-century, but this week, assembly lines are up and running again. "The Broncos are out of the gates, out of the corral," a manager at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne told reporters on Monday, the day the automaker was set to ship its first orders of the SUV, per the Detroit Free Press. The plant is the same one where previous editions of the Bronco were churned out from 1965 to 1996. To create the new models, Ford added 2,700 jobs at the factory.

CNBC notes this new Bronco incarnation is one of the "most critical nonelectric product launches for the company in years." A Ford rep says 125,000 orders have already been placed and that shipments will start to arrive at Ford dealers within days, which Fox News reports is earlier than the late-summer date Ford initially provided in December. "To see it rolling down the line here, it's amazing," a Bronco marketing manager tells CNBC. The 2021 Bronco, which comes in two- and four-door models in a variety of colors, starts at $29,995. (There was some hubbub earlier this year when Ford announced the original Bronco release date as July 9—OJ Simpson's birthday).