With fuel economy Ford hopes the new Falcon range will boost its sagging sales.
Secrecy worthy of a trashy spy novel surrounded the unveiling of the new FG Falcon flagship, dubbed as the safest Falcon built.
Motoring journalists were transported to a secret location in buses with blacked-out windows to get a first look at the all-new Falcon, which goes on sale in May. Ford says it is 90 per cent new.
As Ford prepares to battle arch-rival Holden on the Clipsal 500 track in Adelaide, the Melbourne-based car maker brought its newest large car out amid shrinking sales in the sector that have already claimed Mitsubishi's local manufacturing arm.
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But Ford is saying dramatic improvements in fuel economy and a revamped sedan and ute range will bring its large-car customers back to the Falcon and arrest a substantial sales fall, the worst in the nameplate's near-50 year history.
New Ford Australia president Bill Osborne says he has driven more than 5000 cars in his engineering career and he believes the FG Falcon will bring family buyers back to the company's large car.
“It's a fantastic vehicle . . . with important improvements in fuel economy - we've made dramatic improvements across the range,” he said.
“I think this is one of the great sedans in the world, it's perfectly capable of conquesting new customers, I think we consider it a success already today, from what we've accomplished from an engineering standpoint,” he said.
Mr Osborne talked about the new car “blowing away the cobwebs” - and in the process dropping Futura, Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia as part of moving forward - but also expressed some disappointment that it was not available for left-hand drive export, although elements of the car look ready for the switch.
“I am disappointed it wasn't done in LHD, I think it has application around the world, so yes, frankly I am disappointed,” he said. “We tend to compare ourselves to domestic competition, I told our engineering team we should be comparing this car to the best sedans around the world,” he said.
Ford remains positive about the sales prospects of its new car, despite the Falcon sales figures dropping to half the volumes achieved by the range during several years of the past decade.
Dual front and side airbags and stability control are standard across the petrol-engined Falcon sedan range.
