“You want to know what model I can’t keep on the lot?” The dealership owner sitting at the bar leaned toward me as he asked the question.

“What?”

“The Jeep 4xe.”

I blinked in shock. First off, we were at a new Bronco trim launch event put on by Ford. I was there as a journalist, and he was one of the top-selling Ford dealership owners invited as a special guest. But, of course, he owned multiple franchises.

I said, “That SUV starts at $50k!”

“People love plug-in hybrids. If you’ll never buy gas for your commute again, it’s worth the price tag. I keep telling Ford we need a Bronco PHEV.”

Ford’s finally making a Bronco PHEV, kind of

One full year after that conversation, Ford released pictures of its stylish Bronco New Energy PHEV. It’s built on the Bronco Sport but with full-frame Bronco design cues, such as a tailgate-mounted spare tire. The SUV comes as either a PHEV or an EV. It is optimistically targeting a 136-mile PHEV range or a full EV with a 403-mile range. My friend the dealer would be thrilled—if only it was available in the U.S.

The Bronco New Energy is an SUV Ford designed for the Chinese market. While the Jeep Wrangler 4xe has an electric motor integrated into the transmission, the Bronco New Energy uses a very different design. Its electric motors drive its wheels, powered by the battery pack. The 136-mile PHEV version will also have a “range extender” gasoline engine, which is essentially a generator that can recharge its battery on the go.

The Bronco PHEV’s range-extended setup has many benefits. Without a transmission, it has fewer moving parts than a conventional hybrid. With full electric drive, it also offers a lot more torque than a traditional internal-combustion engine vehicle, and all of that torque is available at 0 rpm. Finally, it can get away with a smaller motor than a traditional hybrid because if it needs a power boost, that comes from the surplus energy in the battery. When the gas motor does fire up, it runs at a steady rpm. The result is better mpg than a traditional hybrid—even when running off gasoline.

The Ford Ranger PHEV disappointed

What’s intriguing about Ford’s choice to make the Bronco New Energy a range-extended PHEV is that it has already designed a traditional PHEV powertrain for its midsize, full-frame chassis. It could have gone the easy route and just borrowed that tech.

I’m referring to the Ford Ranger PHEV, which will be assembled in South Africa for global markets, from New Zealand to the Netherlands. But early reviews of the Australian-market version found its range lacking. While Ford is advertising 27 miles of all-electric range, testers are finding the Ranger PHEV needs help from its internal-combustion engine after 16.5 miles.

Ford opted for an 11.8-kWh battery pack. Meanwhile, the Wrangler 4xe has a 17-kWh battery pack. Jeep advertises a 20-mile range, but reviewers have exceeded 25 miles during real-world tests.

With the average American driving 30 miles per day, Ford may know it can’t throw a full-frame Bronco on the Ranger PHEV chassis and call it a day. This may be why it’s investing in the New Energy range-extended hybrid chassis. The full-EV Bronco New Energy has a 105-kWh battery pack. The PHEV version has a 44-kWh pack.

All that said, China’s extensive investment in its lithium-ion supply chain makes EV batteries cheaper. If the Jeep Wrangler 4xe costs $50,000 with its 17-kWh battery pack, who knows what a Bronco Sport range-extended PHEV with a 44-kWh pack would cost in the U.S.? But we won’t find out for a long time—not until Ford can finish engineering it, pull it off in the Chinese market, and then decide to offer a variant in the U.S. But if Ford can do all that, I know a dealership owner who thinks it would sell like hotcakes.