Ford set to reveal future plans

The new-car collection is being assembled in Sydney on August 13, as Ford Motor Company's global marketing boss Jim Farley flies in to confirm a local future for the iconic Ford Mustang.

The Mustang will sit in the spotlight but there is also a full spread of cars that should run from the Fiesta through the new baby EcoBoost SUV up to a replacement for the locally-made Territory. But there will not be a Taurus.

Ford insiders confirm to Carsguide that there is no plan for any big car to take over from the Falcon, with the mid-sized Mondeo taking over as the company's family fighter and the American-made Taurus not returning after a failed local effort in the mid-1990s.

The location for the showroom preview is being kept secret until the day, although more than 150 people are expected to attend - including a small number of owners. "We will have customers at the event. We want to get some Ford fans along," the spokesman for Ford Australia, Neil McDonald, tells Carsguide. "It's somewhere in Sydney. We can't go into any details beyond that.".

The presence of Farley, Ford's executive vice-president of global marketing, sales, service, and Lincoln, shows the importance of the event and also the need to talk-up Ford Australia as a pure importer instead of a local manufactuer.

He should outline a plan that goes well beyond 2016, when the Falcon is currently forecasted to pass into the pages of history following a much-needed update next year. "This will show all the Ford fans what our future will look like," says McDonald. "We're not ready to talk about things yet."

There will be up to a dozen cars at the show but one thing missing is the full-sized SUV based on the Ford Ranger. It has been designed and developed in Australia, like the Ranger, but the T6 family model is too far into the future to make its debut in Sydney.

This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover