China’s Ford Bronco Gets The Roof That The Volkswagen ID.Buzz Should Have

There’s some really cool stuff coming out of China’s car industry right now. A 300-mph electric supercar, an SUV with a drone in the back, real sci-fi stuff, and some real sensible cars, too. Affordable EVs, range-extender hybrids, and new ideas that genuinely seem great. Case in point: China’s homegrown Ford Bronco gets a unique style of panoramic roof that Volkswagen really ought to have invented first. You’ll see what I mean.

While China does get some variants of the same Bronco we get here, it’s also getting an entirely different Ford Bronco. Called the Bronco New Energy, not only is it offered in both electric and range-extended hybrid models, it’s the biggest new Bronco yet, cutting a silhouette some eight inches longer than our Bronco four-door. Okay, it is a unibody vehicle, but that doesn’t mean it can’t wheel. The old XJ Jeep Cherokee was unibody and you see those things crawling through mud holes and up mountains all the time. Plus, the Bronco New Energy decided to meld the trend of rooftop tents into the vehicle itself with a proper pop-up roof panel.

As Autopian contributor Tycho de Feijter notes on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, this contraption is officially called the “one-click ceiling lifting camping set,”and it’s a glass panel that pops up tent-style at the press of a virtual button on the touchscreen. Featuring an accordion-style boot to seal out weather when the panel’s up, not only does it allow for extra headroom when car camping, but it can even be had with a complementary air mattress to complete the experience.

Ford Bronco EV for China has an build-in roof tent

Camping is popular in China. Ford wants to cash-in. The new Ford Bronco EV/EREV has a build-in roof tent. Ford calls it the “one-click ceiling lifting camping set”, with a glass roof!

With one click on the screen, the tent… pic.twitter.com/QyIqfLOdUG

— Tycho de Feijter (@TychodeFeijter) October 3, 2025

Although it’s probably possible to come up with a shorter name than “one-click ceiling lifting camping set,” this feature seems like a great idea that was a long time coming. Sure, the fact that it’s a transparent panel is novel, but otherwise, there isn’t much new about this arrangement. In fact, it was popularized in America by certain Volkswagens.

Flash back more than half a century, and the car camping vehicle of the moment was none other than the Volkswagen Type 2, or as just about everyone calls it, the bus. While the standard passenger model was plenty for ferrying long-haired youths to and from concerts, the cream of the crop were the Westfalia camper variants. Identifiable by their distinctive pop-up roof elements, these vans had everything you needed for life on the road, and they became icons of the hippie era.

Yet when Volkswagen finally revived the retro image of the Bus with the electric ID.Buzz, something was missing. Sure, it looks like its 1950s ancestor and comes in fun colors and sparks joy, but where’s the camper version? Sure, any proposed camper variant would be expensive, but not only is the ID.Buzz already a $61,545 vehicle, Class B camper vans are seriously expensive as it sits. We’re talking $150,000-and-up for most models, a price bracket in which a factory-built ID.Buzz stands a fighting chance. But no, that’s not happening. Sure, some companies have pitched aftermarket conversions, but some level of first-party approval would really make ownership and operation easier.

Instead, Ford beat Volkswagen to the punch with a modernization of a great idea. If the people want to get outdoorsy, let them do just that. Hey, since Ford has that deal with Volkswagen for models like the VW-based European-market Explorer EV and Capri, maybe there’s an opportunity to license out the tech.

Top graphic images: Ford; Volkswagen

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