Ford has started delivering its first Ford Bronco SUVs since 1996

• Ford has started shipping one of its most highly anticipated SUVs in years.
• The rugged Bronco is on its way to dealerships, the company announced Tuesday.
• The company says it has taken 125,000 Bronco orders.

Ford revived the Bronco name for its new family of off-road vehicles last July, and now the cornerstone of that lineup - the highly anticipated Bronco SUV - is headed to dealerships.

Both two-door and four-door versions of the 2021 Bronco have begun rolling off of the line at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant, the company announced Tuesday.

The go-anywhere SUV is the first Bronco since Ford discontinued the famous model in 1996 following a three-decade production run. Deliveries of the Bronco Sport, a smaller crossover in the rugged Bronco family, began in late 2020, but the bigger, more serious Bronco is what lots of people were really waiting for.

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Ford equipped the retro-styled SUV with everything you'd expect from a vehicle designed to forge off the beaten path. It gets four-wheel drive as standard, locking differentials, an optional manual gearbox, and lots of ground clearance.

Taking direct aim at the Jeep Wrangler, a vehicle that has dominated in off-roading and outdoorsy circles for years, the Bronco has a removable roof and doors, and buyers can have their pick of more than 200 accessories.

The much-hyped Bronco was received well upon its debut last summer - so much so that the vehicle's reservation site crashed from all the traffic. Ford says 125,000 Bronco orders have been placed so far.