An Orion wagon is expected to follow the sedan and ute range.

A new Ford station wagon will follow the release of an Orion sedan and ute.

Though the focus has been on the Orion sedan and ute, Ford remains committed to a new Falcon wagon as an integral part of the Orion line-up.

Unlike Holden, which has moved away from a traditional load-carrying wagon with its new Commodore Sportswagon, the next-generation Ford wagon is expected to carry over as a true load-lugger.

Though some Ford staff confirm that a wagon will follow the sedan and ute, Ford president Tom Gorman is cryptic about what form the new wagon will take.

“Our plan is to continue to sell Falcons and we're evaluating what the future looks like for us,” Gorman says.

“When we launched Territory in 2004 a lot of people thought it was going to substitute for the Falcon wagon, but it didn't work out that way.”

Gorman says “99.9 per cent of wagon sales” are to fleets.

“It's very much a tool-of-trade product so it is about cost of ownership and its heavily skewed to E-Gas,” he says.

Gorman is unconcerned about the arrival of the new Mondeo, which is close in size to the Orion, though he acknowledges it will be a challenge to sell both.

“It's always going to be a challenge for us,” he says.

“But the vehicles are quite different. The Falcon has a six and an eight, LPG and it's rear-wheel drive.”

Gorman says the Falcon will still attracts traditional buyers — large corporate fleets and government agencies."

“We are not going to walk away from those segments.”

Orion details remain sketchy, but carsguide can confirm that the interior has moved upmarket, with two-tone trims and an alloy-look dashboard on premium models with high-set audio controls and a deep-set LCD monitor for some controls.

The Fairmont-style clock on the top of the dashboard is expected to carry over on premium models.

The rear doors, which drew criticism on the current model, have been replaced with wide opening doors. The side window line is shallower, to show off the car's wedge-shape design and improve side-impact crash characteristics.

Apart from an Orion front and updated rear end, the changes to the ute are minimal, with a hockey-stick style rear window behind the doors and the Orion front-end design.

Engines are expected to carry over, with some improvements in fuel economy.

The four-speed automatic is expected to be replaced by a five-speed automatic on lower-end cars, with the six-speed ZF unit remaining on performance and luxury variants.