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With all these “accidental” leaks and reveals of new cars in advance of the Geneva and New York auto shows, it’s easy to forget there’s another important auto show in progress: The Melbourne International Auto Show. Struth! Ford’s showing its new Australian heavy hitter, the “Orion” Ford Falcon. Large sedans are the hot segment down under. Traditionally Ford’s rear wheel-drive (RWD) Falcon and Holden’s RWD Commodore duke it out for top props. Holden debuted the next gen Commodore a.k.a. the Pontiac G8) about a year ago. Now it’s the new Falcon’s turn to take wing.The good: The base engine is a 260 horsepower 4.0-liter inline six originally designed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1812. The optional turbocharged inline six harnesses 362 horses and crushes in-gear acceleration with 390 ft.-lbs. of low-down torque. And then there’s a 5.4-liter V8 with 390 horses and a semi-active muffler (essentially a bypass valve) that allows the engine to fully express itself over 2800 rpm. Also good: new six speed manual and automatic transmissions, and loads of alphabet e-kit (ABS, DSC, ICBMs) and a full complement of airbags.
The bad: It’s not coming to North America unless (1) Vietnamese communists transfer hypnotic control of John McCain to Ron Paul after McCain gets elected President (2) the price of gas suddenly drops to $1/gallon and/or (3) America stops printing money, inflating the currency, and making imports prohibitively expensive.
The ugly: The new Falcon’s not ugly per se, but it is all kinds of bland. The proportions seem somewhat weird from pictures, and the details are fair at best. The luxury “G” version (no, they’re not saying it the way 50 Cent does) cribs some exterior styling from Ford’s stunning Iosis concept and new Mondeo. But on balance, the new Flacon’s design was born as a five-year-old. Imagine the stretch marks. No, don’t.
[Pixamo slide show of the new Ford Falcon here.]
Alright, I got it.
Ford–cease all production of traditional US-only cars, either bring over or produce Aussie, Euro, or the Asian cars AS IS right here in this country. No more “They get better cars than we do”. Make them comply with our auto laws and let the games begin. New nameplate for passenger cars= “FMC”
GM–do the same thing, but put the old tired names that today’s generation don’t identify with out to pasture. No more “Chev/Buick/Cad/Pont” etc. The cars will either be Opel,Holden, or…”GMW”
Give all the former divisional dealerships the exact same cars, and let them duke it out for marketshare or close down trying. A goal is to reduce the number of dealerships selling basically the same cars, isnt it?
Corvette could retain it’s own identity, the trucks could remain as they are.
Hey..I can dream, can’t I?
The new Mercury Marquis?
Is Alan Mually aware that Ford has an Australian operation?
The Chicken-or-the-egg syndrome continues… American buyers won’t pay a premium for a Ford product unless Ford begins an era where they only deliver premium products. And Ford won’t offer premium products because they cannot afford to take the risk to see if Americans really would pay a premium for Ford’s products.
However, a Ford Transit sold in the US does have a glimmer of hope.
holydonut :
The Chicken-or-the-egg syndrome continues… American buyers won’t pay a premium for a Ford product unless Ford begins an era where they only deliver premium products. And Ford won’t offer premium products because they cannot afford to take the risk to see if Americans really would pay a premium for Ford’s products.
Looks like Ford is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. It is a NO win situation and it looks dire for Ford.
So, I’ll never get to see one in the flesh, much less be able to buy one in a decade or so. Rats, anything with an I6 engine gets me excited..
(1) Vietnamese communists transfer hypnotic control of John McCain to Ron Paul after McCain gets elected President
Quite possibly the funniest thing I have read on the internets in a long time. Do you think that once McCain becomes president the Vietnamese will issue the following communique: “All your base are belong to us!”
“Large sedans are the hot segment down under” With fleets, sort of. 88%(!) of the #1 selling GM Commodore (Pontiac G8) goes to fleets, and 81% of the Falcon goes to fleets. Among private buyers, the Commodore is only #9, and the Falcon #15.
The top sellers to non-fleet buyers? #1:Corolla; #2:Mazda3; #3:Yaris, etc… Sound familiar? The big car market is evaporating in Ozzie land, and small cars are the hot sellers. GM and Ford are talking about reducing fleet sales (sound familiar?), but that would mean reducing production (sound familiar?). The reality is that the GM and Ford are in trouble in Australia.
Bring back the Lincoln LS (or Jaguar S-type) as a Ford, call it LTD, add solid rear end for durability and lowered production cost.
I drove a friend’s LS the other day that he picked up a couple weeks ago, was pretty impressed (maybe it was the manual transmission). 150,000 miles, not too creaky (I’ve been in newer Crown Vics that sounded like pin-ball machines).
That being said, bring that oz over, call it the… Focus, Freestyle, Fivehundred, Fusion, Festiva, um…. FREEDOM that’ it.
He was concerned when helping him replace the fuel filter it was literally 2 inches away from the driver’s front wheel. Relocate.
…..Focus, Freestyle, Fivehundred, Fusion, Festiva, um…. FREEDOM that’ it.
..the fuel filter … was literally 2 inches away from the driver’s front wheel.
…Ford Flambé then, Ray?
Ford and GM’s Aussie operations continue to make better American-style cars for their own market than their motherships do.
The former BA Falcon was a great looking car in person. I had the pleasure of driving one from City Ford when I was in Sydney, turbocharged inline six and all. It’s an exceptional car.
The redesigned Falcon is evolutionary of the former BA model. This car isn’t a radical change like the all-new Commodore because it was done on a shoestring budget. Ford didn’t have a billion dollars laying around to put into completely remaking a sedan for Australia. They also didn’t have the money to put into re-engineering it for left-hand drive.
Considering what Ford AU has to work with they’ve put out a better looking, driving and performing car in the new FG Falcon than what Ford US produces and the countless ugly FWD crapboxes polluting our roads.
It’s a real shame we won’t get a chance to buy this car. But it’s just as well considering Ford US would probably tack a shaving razor grille on it and rename it something stupid and market it as something it’s not.
The tire-smoking, drag-racing, and car-hauling tradition lives on in the land Down Under.
quasimondo :
February 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Is Alan Mually aware that Ford has an Australian operation?
if you have any luck – no…the ford falcon (like the holden commodore) is a piece of shit…it corners much the same way a sea cow does…has a crap ride…piss poor build quality…and should only be inflicted on those whom you hate (and that goes for the decidly average commodore as well)…
you do not want this…
or put it another way…if you do then your american fords and gm’s must be total rubbish…
How many people will lose jobs because of imported falcons? how many engineers will become useless? How many people will have to apply for low paid jobs? How many suppliers will be folded in? you guys operate too much with words` give `em` , `get `em`. How about `create `em`? With your own hands..?
When Thomas Stamford Raffles wasn’t busy founding Singapore he had time to dabble in engineering I guess.
Why are almost all the photos of the front end? Everything else is carryover?
Sounds like Ford has finally dug up some engines capable of serious power (without supercharging a V8). Another sign that the horsepower race has peaked. Sorry, Ford, that party’s over.
just curious, automotive writers. How do the higher-ups in Detroit figure out what will sell? Or do they just build something as cheaply as possible , then spend millions in advertising in attempts to convince people they want that product?