Ford To Delay Release Of Bronco, F-150, And Mustang Mach-E: Here’s Why

As Ford (F) begins reopening its factories on Monday, the automaker is reportedly delaying some of its big launches that were expected to come later this year.

The highly-anticipated Ford Bronco, which was slated for a 2020 release, is now not expected to hit dealers until 2021, The Drive reported. Ford was also expected to release the Bronco Sport, a new F-150 pickup truck, and deliver the Mustang Mach-E – all of which have been delayed because of plant shutdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic, the news outlet said.

Ford shut down its vehicle production plants for about two months during the COVID-19 crisis, which is the cause of the delay in its new product introductions. The Ford F-150 pickup truck and Mustang Mach-E were expected to arrive in 2020 and are now reportedly thought to be delayed at least two months –about the same timeframe that production plants were shutdown.

Ford’s head of product development and purchasing, Hau Thai-Tang, said on Friday (via The Drive), “We’re not going to do any additional delay to these launches beyond the impact of Covid-19 as a mechanism to conserve cash. Given our inability to work in the assembly plants during the shelter-in-place restrictions, it will have an impact to program timing, in terms of the launches. But we expect the launch delays to be commensurate with the duration of the shutdown period.”

Ford, along with GM and Fiat Chrysler, came to an agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union to resume operation at its production plants on Monday. Ford is expected to report a loss of $5 billion for this quarter, Detroit News reported.

Shares of Ford stock were up 7.14% as of 12:05 p.m. EDT on Monday.