Ford hints at compact SUV

A major makeover of the Ford range has not yet seen a move in the compact SUV direction, but Ford Australia's boss says "stay tuned."

The production version of the Vertrek concept car (based on the same underpinnings as the new Focus and likely to retain the Escape badge) will succeed the Escape.

The Ford Australia president and CEO Robert Graziano says the company will have - by the end of this year - revamped the bulk of its range, but a new compact SUV competitor may take a little longer.

"By the end of this year will have updated with all-new or significantly improved vehicles 85 per cent of our showroom, that's a significant transformation for the Ford brand here in Australia, it's an exciting time for us this year," he says.

One segment where the company has little presence is the compact end of the SUV market - it's Escape model is a long-serving product that sits below three per cent share - but the Ford boss is tightlipped about what it's plans for the compact SUV segment are.

"There are other segments that are very important in the SUV market, we recognise that, so I would say stay tuned," he says. "There's a lot of growth in the small SUV segment and we recognise that - we can't talk about future products," he says.

Graziano -- who took the reigns in November last year -- is pleased with the new Territory's performance since it was released with a turbodiesel powerplant and doesn't think there's a need for anything larger in the company's SUV portfolio.

"I don't think we need to go larger than Territory, we've been number one in that segment in the last three months, we're pleased with that vehicle, hopefully it goes from strength to strength," he says.

Graziano has also defended sliding Falcon sales by suggesting the absence of wagon and LPG variants had not been taken into consideration when comparing year-on-year sales data.

"We're right in the middle of a $232 million investment on that platform, we look at January through August, we've seen increases. We're going to add LPI - people look at last year and we had a wagon and LPG, we haven't had that this year," he says.

The company continues to pin its Falcon sales volume hopes to the new LPG sedan and ute models - as well as the facelifted MkII model range - which have been receiving positive feedback from the company's fleet customers.

"Fleets that we've spoken to have been positive as well, they're looking forward to the LPG Falcon returning. Sales of LPG has represented around 25 per cent of our volumes annually between Falcon and Falcon Ute, the ute is a strong LPG market, the performance of the LPI we think will be well received by tradesman," he says.

"I think of it (Falcon) as an iconic vehicle for Australia, it's a tremendous product - we've still got a bit of time to go before we have to make a decision on the next-gen Falcon, because of the efficiencies we now have in engineering and development," he says.

The future of a locally-built Falcon - as opposed to a rebadged import - have not been harmed by the job done by the Ranger team.

"I think the team has always been recognised as having the core acumen from an engineering standpoint, they've done terrific work on Ranger, Territory and Falcon, as well as the Figo small car for India and South Africa - that core acumen they have that I think want to continue to leverage globally," Graziano says.