Ford Fairlane 2007 News

Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi are killing off several of Australia's best-known model names — including some which have been around since the 1960s — to keep pace with changing times.After years of slow sales, Mitsubishi halted production of its Adelaide-made 380 sedan last Thursday.The 380 replaced the Magna in 2005, adopting a new name in a bid to freshen its image.Mitsubishi Motors Australia president Robert McEniry said axing the 380 was a “very difficult decision.”“However, it is an inescapable fact that there is now a deepening trend away from large cars,” he said.“We can see no path for a return to viable production levels of the 380 sedan.”Mitsubishi is remaining in Australia as a car importer.Holden has announced that the imported Rodeo utility, one of the longest-running and strongest-selling names in its class, will be replaced by a model called the Colorado this year.Holden has lost the rights to the Rodeo name, which it has used for 30 years, because its agreement with Japanese carmaker Isuzu has ended.Isuzu, once part of the General Motors empire, has been building the Rodeo for Holden but is expected to introduce its own utility model, called the D-Max, in Australia.At Ford, the once-popular luxury long-wheelbase Fairlane and LTD models have already been killed off this year, and production of the Fairmont, Fairmont Ghia and Futura versions of the Falcon is about to end.Ford auctioned its last Fairlane, with the proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, but it fetched only $48,100, compared with the list price of $58,625.It was the last of more than 250,000 Fairlanes and LTDs built between 1967 and 2008.Ford used cricket stars Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden to promote the eBay auction.A new-look Falcon series called the FG is due in April and in it the Futura name (used on and off by Ford since 1962) disappears and the Fairmont (used continuously since 1965) and Fairmont Ghia (around since 1979) will be replaced by G6 and G6E.However, the changes have sparked heated argument in internet chatrooms such as Ford Forums.A Fairmont owner calling himself Airmon said; “Shame on Ford!”Another fan, Bo0, said: “Ford can't be that stupid could they?”Ford vice-president of product development Trevor Worthington said it was “time to draw a line in the sand and move on.”   Yesterday's models Ford FairlaneThe flagship Ford has finally been axed after more than 250,000 Fairlanes and LTDs were built between 1967 and 2008Holden RodeoThe Rodeo, which has been around for 30 years, will be replaced by a model called the Colorado later this yearMitsubishi 380The 380 sedan replaced the Magna in 2005, in a bid to freshen its image. But the unpopular 380 has been dumped. 

A charity auction ended in disappointment when the last Fairlane to leave Ford's production line failed to realise even its list price on Sunday afternoon.Disappointing for Ford perhaps and the National Breast Cancer Council that was due to pocket the proceeds.But not for Melbourne boat dealer Simon Miller, 43, who suddenly found himself the proud owner of another car.“I don’t I think I could have got one that cheap even if I’d haggled,” he said.Ford had anticipated “strong interest” in the event, but the Fairlane, a six cylinder Fairmont Ghia that retails for $58,625, managed to raise only $48,100 – and that's a driveway price including 12 month's registration.Ford enlisted the services of cricketers Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden to promote the event, but the current one day international series must have been more interesting.Perhaps the auction would have attracted more interest if the car had been a V8 model?Yes, concedes Ford, but the trouble is that it stopped manufacturing V8s some time ago.A Ford spokesman, however, confirmed the car is literally the last Fairlane to leave the line.“It's a nice collector car and a very good price at that,” a spokesman said.In the lead-up to the auction, Ford described the car as the final example of more than 250,000 Fairlane and LTD vehicles manufactured between 1967 and 2008.Early last year, Ford decided to pull the pin on the Fairlane as well as the more luxurious LTD model in the wake of falling sales.A total of 12 bidders registered for the auction which ended at 5pm on Sunday.It attracted 40 bids in total, with the winning bid coming just seconds before the end in typical eBay fashion.As the auction drew to a close there were some anxious moment as the eBay site refused to accept any further bids.At the time Miller was out on a boat enjoying the sunshine off Frankston, with a friend keeping him updated on proceedings via text messages.The father of two revealed his own father had owned five Fairlanes over the years but said he had no plans to give him this one.Miller might however cook up something with his beloved Geelong Football Club.Other than that, he has not decided what to do with the car yet.In fact, the boat dealer has just taken delivery of a new turbo-diesel Landcruiser which he uses to tow boats. 

Ford is the latest manufacturer to join the rush to space-saver spare tyres. From October the Falcon range will come with a temporary space-saver spare tyre as standard despite the company's insistence last year that there were no plans to follow Holden's lead.“There was criticism of Holden when the VE was launched without a full-size spare and some of it was from us,” Ford Australia President Tom Gorman conceded in announcing the Blue Oval's move.Holden launched its VE range with a standard space-saver spare, an industry first for the Australian-made family-car market.“Since then we have been watching the market and this is where the market is moving. Consumers are telling us by what they are buying that a temporary spare tyre is not a major issue.”Gorman says a full-size spare will be available as an option in line with Holden's marketing, and the price of a full-size alloy has been cut from $400 to $150, while a 16 inch steel spare is $100.“It has become obvious that the full-size spare gave us no commercial advantage in the market,” Gorman says. While the move will trim 5kg from the Falcon's overall weight, Gorman says it will not provide any significant savings for the company in production costs nor shift the Falcon's fuel-economy rating.“There are some small savings but nothing that is going to make any real impact,” he says.While the last of current Falcons will be made with a spare tyre well capable of holding the optional full-size wheel, that will not be the case when the new Orion range arrives early next year.Gorman says the market's acceptance of space-savers spares will provide extra flexibility for the Orion cars with the possibility of two boot configurations, one for customers who are satisfied with a space-saver and want extra storage space and another for those who specify a full-size spare.Ford has also deleted the Barra 220 and Barra 230 V8s from its engine range.The decision to no longer offer the 5.4-litre 24-valve engine was driven by the Ford North American's decision to close the Essex plant in Windsor, Ontario, where the engine is made.“In reality it is not that big a decision,” he says. “We were only selling around 10 of those engines a month. We are not talking big numbers.”The affected models are the Fairmont Ghia, the Fairlane G220 and G8 and the LTD. The XR performance cars will not be affected as they use the 32-valve V8 which is still freely available.Gorman says Ford Australia has stockpiled enough of the three-valve engines to meet model demand until the arrival of the Orion. While Ford struggles to bolster its Falcon sales in the run-up to the arrival of the all-new model early next year, Gorman says he still has faith that the new car market will tip one million sales this year.“There are a couple of factors that could impact in the latter half of the year,” Gorman says. “Interest rates (rising) will have an effect. The federal election is another factor out of our control, but in any event the market will be one million and that will be a record.” 

With the local car industry now at the halfway point in the 2007 sales race, it is easy to see who's winning and who's losing.Toyota is basking in the glory of not only being No.1, but also cementing its sales lead so convincingly that — barring a catastrophe — it will take out the sales crown this year.The Altona-based Japanese company is 40,404 vehicles clear of its nearest rival, Holden. It is also relishing the positive spin of the Corolla knocking off the Holden Commodore last month.But apart from Toyota, other players are also revelling in the good times.Of the importers, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki and Peugeot managed strong June sales.Mazda sold 6932 cars, with the Mazda3 being the strongest seller on 3037.The company experienced the biggest market share gain of any importer.Its record half-yearly result is 20.3 per cent up on the same time last year, lifting market share from 6.7 per cent in 2006 to 7.5 per cent, a gain of 0.7 percentage points.Subaru's tally was 4085 for the month, with the Forester, Impreza and Liberty all breaking through 1000 sales.Suzuki, like many importers, was buoyed by keen end-of-financial year deals.It sold 2368 cars for the month, bringing its year-to-date tally to 10,910 vehicles, a 43 per cent lift over last year.Of the French, an ever-expanding Peugeot line-up continues to bolster sales, but Renault flops around due to a lack of new product.Peugeot sold 1016 vehicles last month, bringing its year-to-date run-rate to 4549, a 13 per cent lift over last year. The 307 continues to be Peugeot's best seller.By contrast, Renault has a year-to-date total of 1431 vehicles, 32 cars fewer than last year.Even Saab experienced some solid growth, albeit off a low base, as the 9-3 turbodiesel helped lift the marque's appeal.Saab sold 336 cars last month, its best month for 10 years, taking its year-to-date tally to 1148, a 170 per cent lift over last year.The X-Trail, Tiida and Navara continue to drive Nissan sales. The Japanese importer sold 5845 vehicles last month with 31,176 year-to-date, a 20 per cent lift over last year.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries monthly Vfacts figures show that most of the extra volume last month was generated by the light, small and medium car segments.A breakdown of large car sales shows that Holden sold 5588 Commodores last month, Ford 3206 Falcons, Toyota 2626 Aurions and Mitsubishi just 877 380 V6s.All three were eclipsed by the new four-cylinder Corolla, which secured 5890 sales.But a finer look at the figures shows that much of the Corolla's success was down to fleet purchases and pent-up demand for the new car, which spiked figures.But a sale is a sale. Holden's own figures point out that 29 per cent of VE Commodores are bought by private buyers, as opposed to 18.6 per cent for the VT Commodore.Apart from the Corolla, other small car stars were the Mitsubishi Lancer with 2143 sales, Holden Astra 1763 and Ford Focus 1550.Of the tiddlers, Toyota again ruled last month. The Yaris managed 2926 sales against 2486 for the Hyundai Getz, 1361 for the Kia Rio, 1351 for the Suzuki Swift and 1392 for the Honda Jazz.Despite the dominance of the light, small and medium segments, large cars were up 3.7 per cent in June and, in year-to-date terms, are running 5.1 per cent ahead of last year.However, Ford's overall market share has slipped 2 per cent and Holden's by almost 1 per cent, despite its Korean strategy, which was hoping to deliver an increased share.Mitsubishi is a bit stronger, experiencing a 0.6 per cent overall drop in share and, despite Toyota's increasing sales, its share has increased by only about 0.6 per cent.One of the more interesting results was for the Ford Fairlane.Ford sold 149 Fairlanes, bolstered by the news that the long-wheelbase sedan will be axed at the end of the year.Dealers are also reporting a slight pick-up in interest for the car from fleets.Overall, the year-to-date sales figure of 524,376 means that a record 1 million market is likely by December.   Top 10 makes  1 Toyota 24,5392 Holden 14,2563 Ford 10,3044 Mitsubishi 81945 Mazda 69326 Nissan 58457 Honda 57508 Hyundai 50239 Subaru 408510 Volkswagen 2848 Top 10 models1 Toyota Corolla 58902 Holden Commodore 55883 Toyota HiLux 42494 Ford Falcon 32065 Mazda3 30376 Toyota Yaris 29267 Toyota Camry 26458 Toyota Aurion 26269 Hyundai Getz 248610 Mitsubishi Lancer 2143 

But he says it is too early to write off the Fairlane nameplate. With a strong history over 40 years, he is confident we may see the name rise from the ashes in the form of an imported model.

These iconic Australian-made cars will exit a rapidly-changing market, with consumers demanding higher-technology and smaller-displacement engines in the premium sector.The long-wheel base versions of the Falcon have suffered a sales decline over the past five years, while its main opposition - the Holden Statesman/Caprice range - has increased export sales to offset slowing local demand.The Melbourne-based car maker said the decision coincided with the arrival of the medium-sized Mondeo, returning to the Australian market after a six-year absence.Ford said there was a major decline in sales of vehicles in the upper large-car segment.Industry observers have pointed to Ford’s product planning as being partly to blame, suggesting that Ford may have diluted the original premium perception of the Fairlane and LTD by reducing the specification of the models to bring them into reach of a broader market.