Where, oh where, are the Bronco and Expedition hybrids?

Ford does not have to guess whether American buyers want a hybrid truck or SUV. It already has the receipts. In 2025 the company sold a record 228,072 hybrids in the United States, up 21.7 percent, and the F-150 PowerBoost did the heavy lifting among full-size vehicles: 84,934 units, a 15 percent gain, making it America’s best-selling full-size hybrid pickup. Through September 2026, Ford has already moved another 34,527 F-150 hybrids. The compact Maverick Hybrid is even hotter. It set a third-quarter record at 27,793 sales, up 59.6 percent, and is on a year-to-date record pace of 74,300. On many lots the hybrid is the majority choice, not a niche option.

That is the part that makes the gaps in the SUV lineup hard to explain. The body-on-frame Bronco just posted a third-quarter record of 38,020 sales and 114,956 through September, on the way to another year north of 140,000. The gas Bronco returns roughly 15 to 20 mpg. At a national average of $4.43 a gallon in September, up from $3.20 a year earlier, that is a real monthly bill for a vehicle people also use as a daily driver. Ford chief executive Jim Farley has already said the company wants a hybrid version of everything it sells, Bronco included, and reporting has pointed to a Bronco hybrid around 2027, possibly with Pro Power Onboard for campsite and job-site use. Buyers are still waiting.

A full-size Bronco hybrid would not need a wild take rate to matter. If even a quarter of Bronco buyers chose it, the way a meaningful slice of F-150 buyers already choose PowerBoost, Ford would be looking at something on the order of 35,000 to 40,000 extra hybrid SUVs a year on current volume. A Maverick-like mix, closer to half, would push that toward 60,000 to 70,000. The Bronco Sport, the higher-volume unibody sibling that competes directly with the RAV4 and CR-V hybrids, is the larger prize. A hybrid Sport at a 40 to 50 percent mix could add well over 50,000 units a year and give Ford a conquest tool it does not have today.

The Expedition is the other blank. Ford’s three-row SUVs are selling: Explorer and Expedition combined reached 249,481 through September. Expedition shoppers tow, haul, and commute, exactly the duty cycle where the PowerBoost has already proved it can sell without asking owners to change how they drive. Toyota and Honda have spent years teaching that segment that a hybrid is the default, not the upsell.

Ford’s own executives told Reuters this month they are seeing more demand for hybrid powertrains, including on the F-150. The trucks already answer the question. The Bronco and Expedition still do not.