No more Australian Falcon?

[dave262]

Just came across this article on The Age... no mention of the Aurion with this though oddly enough, even though it's really in the same class as the mentioned Accord and Maxima...

End of the road nears for Falcon

[One-pager]

Yea I saw it too, it's some big news. Bad for the aussie motoring industry. Hopefully the suppliers can still survive on Toyota and Holden.

I wonder what will become of Bathurst.

[lateralus]

oh, imagine the fuss if the bogans hear that ford may make the "falcon" fwd.

[dave262]

But can you imagine the result if they went AWD? You'd never hear the end of it when they take corners like they are on rails... it would be like a WRX on Steroids!

[Hiro]

It's not like this is the first time this has happened, there has been a shadow over the Falcon ever since the AU, and every so-often you'll get the news that the Falcon is going, only to have it reversed several months later due to a government grant or Ford re-thinking their strategy. Remember the straight-6 was supposed to disappear but it got given another lifeline in the FG.

As for Ford US, ever since the Crown Vic was struck off the list they have been crying out for another med-large RWD sedan, and the Falcon would be a perfect option - make it in LHD over in the US, use a Ford Europe compact V6 of 3-3.5L capacity, plus the new V8s as an option, and still keep local manufacture for RHD in Australia. Whilst the engine-plant will close, the assembly line will still run and we can still source local components. The fact that the Crown Vic cop cars are being replaced by a Commodore/Caprice, there is obviously the need for that kind of vehicle in Ford's ****nal. Whilst the Taurus is OK (the one we got was a dog), they need something a bit larger, and can also base Lincoln/Mercury models off it too (new Lincoln Continental = Fairlane/LTD here?)

[SuperDave]

Ford should just LHD the Falcon and sell it in The States, makes far more sense than pushing a dog ugly Taurus on the rest of the world. Surely poor sales of American cars in other markets is a sign they don't want them.

GM saw how useful (profitable) the Commodore was, not sure why Ford can't see it too. I agree with Hiro's recommendation.

I can't wait for the Falcon to not be eligable for V8SC so that series can die and be replaced by something realistic. Only 3 teams left to jump ship.

[chicaboo]

I can't wait for the Falcon to not be eligable for V8SC so that series can die and be replaced by something realistic. Only 3 teams left to jump ship.

Hell yeah! Bring back the good old Group C ATCC, where the motto "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" actually meant something [because the cars were real]. Or even just throw a lot of money at GTProduction racing to bring it back to life [as it was the replacement for Group C/A pretty much...].

As for the Falcon, it's never had good ergonomics, and the engine has only been a winner since the BA/FG.

Gav.

[avstral]

New taurus not that ugly and it have V6 twin turbo(365Hp), AWD which is no need in Australia, but... Not bad, not bad.

[MT]

It's not like this is the first time this has happened, there has been a shadow over the Falcon ever since the AU, and every so-often you'll get the news that the Falcon is going, only to have it reversed several months later due to a government grant or Ford re-thinking their strategy. Remember the straight-6 was supposed to disappear but it got given another lifeline in the FG.

As for Ford US, ever since the Crown Vic was struck off the list they have been crying out for another med-large RWD sedan, and the Falcon would be a perfect option - make it in LHD over in the US, use a Ford Europe compact V6 of 3-3.5L capacity, plus the new V8s as an option, and still keep local manufacture for RHD in Australia. Whilst the engine-plant will close, the assembly line will still run and we can still source local components. The fact that the Crown Vic cop cars are being replaced by a Commodore/Caprice, there is obviously the need for that kind of vehicle in Ford's ****nal. Whilst the Taurus is OK (the one we got was a dog), they need something a bit larger, and can also base Lincoln/Mercury models off it too (new Lincoln Continental = Fairlane/LTD here?)

Ford should just LHD the Falcon and sell it in The States, makes far more sense than pushing a dog ugly Taurus on the rest of the world. Surely poor sales of American cars in other markets is a sign they don't want them.

GM saw how useful (profitable) the Commodore was, not sure why Ford can't see it too. I agree with Hiro's recommendation.

I can't wait for the Falcon to not be eligable for V8SC so that series can die and be replaced by something realistic. Only 3 teams left to jump ship.

Remember that a large American company will be more interested in preserving American jobs over Australian jobs hence the decision to globalise the Taurus platform rather than the Aussie built Falcon, superior or not.

Agree about the V8SC, they can burn in hell.

[Hiro]

Remember that a large American company will be more interested in preserving American jobs over Australian jobs hence the decision to globalise the Taurus platform rather than the Aussie built Falcon, superior or not.

But by building the Falcon in LHD over in the US for the US market, the fact that it is also built in Aus for us is completely irrelevant. We're not going to be taking jobs away from the US, if anything by having US engines we'll be creating jobs for them (at the expense of our own, unless we starting building the engines here too).

[SuperDave]

It's not like this is the first time this has happened, there has been a shadow over the Falcon ever since the AU, and every so-often you'll get the news that the Falcon is going, only to have it reversed several months later due to a government grant or Ford re-thinking their strategy. Remember the straight-6 was supposed to disappear but it got given another lifeline in the FG.

Dad was telling me they were threatening to make it fwd even in his day

Or even just throw a lot of money at GTProduction racing to bring it back to life [as it was the replacement for Group C/A pretty much...].

That series was so corrupt it makes V8SC look like angels in comparison.

That series died because no one turned up. I remember attending a round at QR where there was literally 30 people watching it; it only cost like $15 to get in, more people turn up to watch the sprints! For production car racing to take off it needs to be a support series to the V8SC, that's the sad fact. But as far as support races go it needs to be a realistic race distance, not 10 laps. If it gets a foot hold then it can stand alone; but I'm not holding my breath for that to occur.

[dave262]

Remember that a large American company will be more interested in preserving American jobs over Australian jobs hence the decision to globalise the Taurus platform rather than the Aussie built Falcon, superior or not.

But by building the Falcon in LHD over in the US for the US market, the fact that it is also built in Aus for us is completely irrelevant. We're not going to be taking jobs away from the US, if anything by having US engines we'll be creating jobs for them (at the expense of our own, unless we starting building the engines here too).

I think it really depends on who will be calling the shots too. I recall seeing an article not too long ago saying Ford Australia received some award for the most improved fuel efficiency of a large engine recently (but just cannot find it for the life of me). If they brought some of those minds into play to develop something that can enhance some of those fuel guzzlers in the US - they might start recovering some sales in the already insanely competitive world... especially since the whole focus these days is carbon this, carbon that...