Thirty-eight thousand and twenty. That is how many Bronco SUVs Ford sold in the third quarter of 2026, a record for the model in any third quarter. Through the end of September, Bronco sales reached 114,956, also a record, according to Ford’s quarterly sales report released Oct. 2, 2026.
The record came in a quarter when Ford’s total sales fell. The Bronco moved the other way, setting records for both the quarter and the first nine months of the year.
Ford’s third-quarter 2026 sales release puts it in one line: “Bronco: Sales reached a third-quarter record of 38,020 SUVs and a year-to-date record of 114,956.” The company’s headline summary said “Bronco delivered record third-quarter and year-to-date sales.” Across the whole lineup, Ford sold 509,764 vehicles in the quarter, down 6.6%, and 1,516,279 vehicles through September, per the same release.
How 38,020 compares
The new mark edges out a strong year-earlier figure. Ford’s U.S. sales release for the third quarter of 2025, dated Oct. 1, 2025, said “Bronco notched its best third quarter ever with 37,858 sales (+41.3%).” The 2026 quarter beat that by 162 SUVs, a small margin on top of a big jump the year before.
Most of the year-to-date record was built in the first half. Ford’s second-quarter 2026 sales release said Bronco “delivered record Q2 and first-half results,” with second-quarter sales up 15.9% and first-half sales up 6.8% to a record 76,936 SUVs. Add the third quarter’s 38,020 and the total lands exactly on the 114,956 Ford reported through September. The same second-quarter release said Bronco outsold the Jeep Wrangler for that quarter.
Off-road trims carry a larger share
The Bronco is part of a broader pattern in Ford’s numbers. The Oct. 2, 2026 release groups Bronco with the Raptor, Tremor and FX4 packages as off-road performance vehicles, and says that lineup “represented 24% of the company’s sales through September, an increase of 3.8 percentage points from a year ago.” Sales across those trucks and SUVs totaled 364,141 through September and 123,507 in the third quarter, up 8.4% year to date and 12.2% for the quarter, per Ford.
The smaller Ford trucks posted records of their own. The same release said the Maverick Hybrid’s third-quarter sales “rose 59.6% to a record 27,793 pickups,” and that combined Maverick, Ranger and Bronco Sport sales rose 9.5% through September to 112,627. Ford counts the Bronco Sport separately from the Bronco; its 2025 release listed the two separately and grouped them as the “Bronco family.”
Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue and Model e, said in the release: “We delivered a solid quarter and continued to gain retail share adjusted for the planned sunset of Escape and Corsair.”
Bronco Filson and Bronco RTR orders next
Two new versions are next in line. Ford said in the Oct. 2 release that it “will begin taking orders later in October for the Bronco Filson and Bronco RTR editions.”
The Filson edition was introduced in a Ford and Filson announcement distributed June 3, 2026, which described a “3.0-liter EcoBoost V6” engine “shared with Bronco Raptor and refined with application-specific tuning.” The announcement called it “a new rugged premium 4×4 SUV” and tied it to the outfitter’s history: “Just like the gear Filson has supplied to pioneers and the U.S. Forest Service for more than a century, the Bronco Filson is built to deliver confidence and performance in harsh trail conditions.” It said orders open in fall 2026, with vehicles arriving in showrooms in early 2027. With orders for both editions opening later in October 2026, Filson deliveries in early 2027 are the next scheduled step for the Bronco line.
Top image: A 2021 Ford Bronco Big Bend, from the model’s first production year after its return. Image Credit: SsmIntrigue — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.