Ford Falcon News

This month marks the 10 anniversary of the closure of Ford Australia’s local manufacturing facility. That final vehicle, a blue FGX Falcon XR6, rolled off the Broadmeadows factory in Melbourne’s outer north on October 7, 2016. It ended 91 years of continuous production that started in 1925 with the Model T – the car that put the world on wheels. Was Ford right to call time in Australia? Is it worse or better off now? What happens next? And will it suffer the same fate as Holden? Read on! At the time, Ford was considered the villain of the era, since it was the first of the remaining three local carmakers to announce the end of Australian vehicle manufacturing. That happened on May 23, 2013. Critics claimed it prompted a domino effect that quickly forced the hand of the other two – Holden (on December 11 that year) and Toyota (the following February) to follow suit. Australia was to no longer build vehicles, for the first time in over a century. Along with tens if not hundreds of thousands of jobs direct and indirect that vanished, we were about to lose a prized rare skill set: the ability to design, engineer and make a car from scratch. Only half a dozen or so other countries could do this. The announcements were the death knell. Toyota closed its Altona factory that made the Camry a year after Ford, on October 3, 2017, with Holden just a fortnight behind, shuttering its Elizabeth, South Australia, facility on October 20, 2017. That last red VF II Commodore SS sedan remains etched in peoples’ memories as a truly sad day. But was Ford really to blame? The reality of making vehicles locally was harsh. Right to the very end Australia’s car industry was heavily tax-payer subsidised, which is the case in many other nations with vehicle manufacturing. Yet, it struggled to compete on price, quality and reliability against many imports, and was incomprehensibly slow to react to evolving market conditions. Can you believe Ford’s Territory is the only SUV ever built in Australia? The big reason why vehicle manufacturing even existed as we knew it in the first place had to do with local industry protection. Tariffs on imported vehicles actually started as a total ban on fully-built cars in 1917, but were eventually scaled back from the 1980s. From dozens of car-making operations building vehicles in Australia, most stopped once tariff protections eased. Nissan shut up shop in 1992 and Mitsubishi in 2008. With all this in mind, by the turn of the millennium, it was largely government fleet mandates to buy Australian that supported the remaining models, including Commodore, Falcon, Territory, Camry and – crucially later on – the Holden Cruze. Prompted by falling sales and federal and state government subsidies, Ford, Holden and Toyota were encouraged to add smaller, four-cylinder models as well as more-efficient larger sedans to their locally made line-ups moving forward. The decision was made during the last big fuel crisis of 2005, that ultimately dealt the mortal blow against large cars. But it wasn’t as if the locals didn’t try. Ford developed the EcoLPi LPG system for the Falcon, along with a 2.0-litre turbo model nobody seems to remember today. Territory finally scored the diesel that buyers were crying out for at the time. Toyota started building hybrid Camrys here. And Holden put the VE Commodore on a massive diet for its transition into the VF, complete with a smaller V6, as well as aluminium and even magnesium panel technologies. With the promise of big government fleet sales, Holden and Ford also announced they would manufacture upcoming global small cars here to keep the local industry viable. The 2011 JH Cruze eventuated, but only proved a moderate success. Not long after its Australian small-car promise, Ford reneged on building what became the 2011 Focus… the one with the disastrous Powershift transmission. Instead, it pivoted to taking on the Toyota HiLux. After all, Ford Australia more-or-less invented the coupe ute back in the 1930s, and the writing was on the wall for the once-popular Falcon ute anyway. One-tonne utes were about to become king. And you know what happened next… Free from its prior global small-car commitment, Ford Australia won the contract to create the global T6 mid-sized light truck project that eventually became the 2011 Ranger (and 2015 Everest SUV). This stroke of luck cannot be overstated. Becoming a homeroom for a huge global volume model changed everything. Leveraging the Australian design and engineering team behind the Falcon/Territory projects to develop a global ute sold in over 190 markets was genius. And under different brands to boot (namely as the replacement for the Mazda B-series/BT-50 that ironically spawned the Ranger’s Courier predecessor), the T6 became a massive and enduring international success. And, reliability issues aside, probably the most acclaimed medium ute today. In time, the Ranger became Ford Australia’s best-seller, and eventually reeled in the HiLux to became number one vehicle here from 2023, ending the Toyota’s seven-year streak on top. To put that into historical context, the Falcon took 17 years to topple Holden as this country’s favourite car. Imagine if Holden was also granted a similar opportunity to design and engineer what became the 2012 Colorado, instead of GM of Brazil, to capitalise on the decades of success that the preceding Rodeo enjoyed? The brand may still have existed today. The final Commodore series made here, the VF, was perhaps the greatest Holden in history. Exported as a Chevrolet and Vauxhall, it was a crowning achievement for Australian family-car manufacturing to bow out on. Especially in HSV GTS R and W1 guises. But the VF’s demise only amplified the devastation surrounding manufacturing closure. Together, they became a one-two blow to the national psyche, as Holden was, and still is, most-closely identified as “Australia’s Own”. Inevitably, post-manufacturing, Holden never recovered. The public became downright hostile to the imported Opel Insignia-based ZB Commodore that replaced the VF in showrooms, despite having Aussie engineering input. And the once-strong Colorado, Astra and Barina suffered too. General Motors in Detroit pulled the plug in 2020. For some Australians, Holden ending entirely is a type of cultural identity grief, one that is still playing out today. Meanwhile, post shutdown, Toyota just keeps on being Toyota, business as usual, while Ford has flourished. Just as intended. Probably even more so. Like a favourite ex, Holden is time-locked in the past, with no future, while Ford is the Holden surrogate. Ford Australia has had its financial ups and downs since ceasing Australian manufacturing, but it cannot be denied that the Ranger has been a money-spinner for the brand. And, just as importantly, for Ford’s dealers. As every carmaker knows, happy dealers equal happy days. The Australian-developed Ranger (not to be confused with the previous American jalopy) is globally acknowledged as the most sophisticated ute of its type on the planet. That’s why Volkswagen chose to co-operate with Ford Australia for its second-generation Amarok. What a compliment. But hang on… how long can all the Ranger love last? Is the honeymoon over? We’ve banged on about this ad-nauseam. Ford is in danger of falling into the same trap that snared Holden in relying too much on one model line. Ranger and Everest combined make up more than 90 per cent of total volume in 2026. That’s a higher percentage than the Commodore managed in its heyday because the Barina, Astra and Colorado all enjoyed strong support, before buyers punished the brand for abandoning manufacturing. However, electrified Chinese vehicles like the BYD Shark 6 are changing the ute game. We’re in another fuel crisis and buyers are ditching diesels en-masse. Plus, the predominantly diesel Ranger and Everest are falling foul of Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES), copping debilitating fines from the government that will only worsen in time. And ever-newer ute rivals are arriving on a seemingly monthly basis, mostly cheaper electrified options from China. It seemed unimaginable back in 2016, but from next year, Ford is hoping to beat China at its own game with the Chinese (courtesy of partner Jiangling, or JMC) Bronco Basecamp. This is a midsized plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to take on the Toyota RAV4, BYD Sealion 6 and a host of other electrified SUVs. Other still-secret JMC-developed models also in the pipeline from China are likely to end up wearing the Blue Oval badge here. Whether there is enough Ford DNA for these newcomers to feel and drive up to the brand’s lofty standards remains to be seen. Like Kia, Hyundai and now Mazda with their respective EV5, Elexio and 6e/CX-6e models, it is also an opportunity for a legacy carmaker like Ford to snare consumers wary of Chinese vehicles thanks to having a known brand with an Australia-wide dealer network. This brilliant move might be the lifesaver Ford Australia needs. With 2026 hindsight, the end of local car making was inevitable; the total decline of sedans; market fragmentation; China’s ascension; rise of electrification, soaring fuel prices – the old ways just weren’t sustainable and wouldn’t fly today anyway. Ford was extremely lucky to have backed the Ranger ute when Holden made the wrong choice with Cruze, and it might be lucky again thanks to Jiangling. But we still miss the Falcon, Territory and everything that making Ford cars in Australia brought to this country.

The true successor to the Ford Falcon is finally coming, with a new name, fresh body styles and the right powertrain for our times, and it should be huge. This isn’t speculation or hyperbole either, but the facts behind an upcoming entire family of electric vehicles (EVs) recently announced by Ford’s global CEO, Jim Farley. With the first model badged Fathom, they represent a return to brand values at a most critical time in the company’s 123-year history. While not yet announced for Australia, the Fathom name has already been trademarked in this country, while its architecture has been engineered for right-hand-drive, auguring well for an eventual local launch. Starting from around $A40,000 in the US when orders commence early next year, the Fathom will initially launch as a four-door, five-seater mid-sized dual-cab EV of monocoque construction. Despite what the styling implies, this is not a ladder-frame pick-up, but an integrated ute around the size of the existing and highly successful Maverick, which is sadly unavailable in Australia. The Fathom is expected to eventually be part of a wider family of EVs that will likely include an SUV spin-off. In other words, Ford is devising a range of models that sit at the heart of the global new-vehicle market. Van and possibly passenger-car and crossover versions are also set to arrive in time. These are all possible due to some smart thinking behind what Ford calls the Universal EV Platform (UEP). New from the ground up, this is a modular architecture designed and engineered to be as flexible as possible. A key component of the UEP’s flat, skateboard framework is an integrated lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery module to provide extra strength and packaging efficiency. Other details, including range and specifications, will be released at a later date. Created to keep costs down, UEP is a direct response to the dramatically increased competition from China, as well as from South Korea, Japan and Europe. China in particular has rewritten the rules on hybrid and EV affordability, so Fathom is part of Ford’s wider fightback strategy. And not for the first time since 1903, either. Have no doubts. Philosophically, Fathom is a modern Falcon in all but name. The Fathom is a textbook return to everything the Falcon was and represented when Ford unveiled it in America in September, 1959. Back then, the company was struggling amid recession and the financial fallout of the multi-billion-dollar Edsel premium brand disaster. These were happening against the backdrop of booming sales for smaller and cheaper European (and later Japanese) models, like the Volkswagen Beetle and Renault Dauphine – something that none of the major American carmakers foresaw nor had adequate responses for. Described as a “compact”, it’s mad to think the Falcon was Ford’s direct answer to the Beetle, but until then, the Blue Oval’s smallest US offerings were still massive, like the 1959 ‘Tank’ Fairlane. With demand far outstripping forecasts, in one fell swoop, the original Falcon turned Ford around, outselling all before it. And let’s not forget – the Falcon also spawned the phenomenon that was the original Mustang. After all these years, Ford is hoping that magic Falcon lightning will strike again with Fathom. And, in the latter 2020s, it makes sense for that to be dual-cab ute. Going where the buyers are. The first Falcon was released in Australia in September, 1960, starting a 56-year battle against Holden, finally toppling it from number one for the first time in 1982. Before utes and SUVs ruled, sedans and wagons were on top, something the also-modular Falcon provided, along with ute and panel van alternatives. Fast forward to today, and Ford is profitable in North America but struggling in Europe, China and elsewhere, including in Australia. The least expensive new Ford passenger vehicle is the Everest Active 4WD from $58,990 before on-road costs. That’s why the Falcon handbook has been dusted off and modernised to better-suit consumer tastes, as the 2027 Fathom. Ford is returning to its roots by going back to basics. Here’s why the Fathom would be relevant for Ford Australia. We might be a ute and SUV-loving nation, but our appetite for EVs is now amongst the strongest in the world per-capita, so the timing couldn’t be more crucial. Especially as Ford is facing massive fines under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) because its carbon pollution-heavy internal combustion engine-powered T6 II Ranger ute and its Everest diesel SUV spin-off account for around 90 per cent of total brand sales volumes. Plus, it will be increasingly difficult for Ranger and Everest sales to sustain the same cadence as before, coming under pressure from newer and mainly hybridised competition pouring into Australia. Of course, Ford will continue to evolve the T6 II models, and it’s believed that body-on-frame replacements – likely from China – are in the pipeline as the end of the decade nears.

In 1977, something remarkable, and even almost unthinkable just a few years earlier, happened. For the first time in decades, a Holden was no longer Australia’s best-selling car for a full calendar year. The HX Belmont/Kingswood/Premier trio was beaten by Ford’s XC Falcon/Fairmont duo, pipped to the post by just 572 units. 53,934 versus 54,506. Released exactly 50 years ago, we take a look at why the car that finally dethroned a Holden changed the face of Australian motoring forever. Developed in the USA to take on the hyper-successful VW Beetle, the original Falcon launched in Australia in 1960, purely to reel the Holden in. Back then, one-in-two vehicles sold in Australia were by General Motors-Holden’s (GMH), and it was making a ton of money for its American parent. Such obscene profits were too much for Ford to ignore. Yet it took 11 versions, over 17 years, for the Falcon to finally achieve its mission. Yes, Ford first climbed to the top for one month only with the then-new XB Falcon in December, 1973, but 1977 was the year of the XC. Here’s the irony. The XC Falcon was drab, lacking the Mustang-look edge of its handsome XB predecessor, which later found international fame as the basis for the original Mad Max movie car. Laughably tiny round headlights didn’t help. And its interior was plain jane boring, replacing the previous, cool ‘waterfall’ fascia that wrapped around the driver years before BMW thought of doing it. The XC also killed off the legendary Falcon GT. Yet Australians still loved it. Go figure. (Hint: the HX was terrible). By any objective standard, but especially global ones, even back in the day, the Australian family cars that are so loved and collectable today were far from great in the 1970s. Based on the same American principles and formula that created what we now dub The Malaise Era, the contemporary Kingswood, Falcon and Chrysler Valiant were oversized yet cramped due to bad packaging, alarmingly thirsty yet comparatively slow (not Valiant) given their large engine capacities, tricky to drive in the wet and on gravel, rust prone, poorly equipped, low on braking ability and inconsistently built. In contrast, a Peugeot 504, VW Passat, Rover P6 or Mercedes-Benz compact were streets ahead for comfort, safety, efficiency, driving pleasure and quality, if not outright performance. Embarrassingly so. With all this in mind, historians reckon the HX was Holden’s worst model to date. The introduction of stricter emissions standards, known as Australian Design Rule 27A (ADR27A) would make the poorer Australian cars even worse. Just as Ford had done, Holden also launched the barely facelifted HX range in July, 1976, sporting a different grille, new instrumentation… and that’s largely it. But the big barge also drove rougher, used more petrol and performed worse than the preceding HJ that was hardly a media darling itself. The critics very publicly savaged the HX and consumers increasingly wary. In contrast, the corresponding XC Falcon boasted big changes to its engines for ADR27A, resulting in output and economy improvement claims of 10 per cent or more. Neither brand’s powertrains could touch the Valiant’s awesomely strong Hemi engines, just to be clear here. However, the Falcon’s were miles better than Holden’s. Note that tighter steering and better-tuned suspension did make the XC the best to drive, whilst that (albeit dubious) dash redesign, expensive exterior sheetmetal restyles and a new nose job also helped make the Ford seem fresher. You know how the XC dropped the GT? Ford replaced it with the Fairmont GXL, and marketed it as a European-style grand touring driver’s car, complete with rarities for the era such as a limited-slip diff, four-wheel disc brakes, alloy wheels and sports suspension. Buyers and critics alike lapped it up. Fairmont’s big rectangular headlights helped a lot too. Largely unrealised at the time, the GXL also softened Australians to the idea of a less-American Falcon. The 1979 XD successor was not far away and, for the first time in the series' history, it adopted visual cues from Ford of Europe's Granada range, rather than from Detroit. The HX’s poor showing, combined with the XC’s more-favourable reviews, must have lit a fire under GMH, because the HZ that replaced it just 15 months later in October, 1977, brought much-improved handling, smoother engines and scores of minor upgrades. More importantly, it ousted Falcon from the top spot the following year. The Opel-derived VB Commodore arrived late in 1978 and the Falcon would not top the annual sales charts again until 1982 – though it then stayed at number one until 1989. Falcon wasn’t even the company’s first roll of the dice. Ford spent a small fortune during the 1950s trying with the UK Zephyr series (fun fact: the first production car with MacPherson strut front suspension), but, though good, it was too expensive against the Holden. Something cheaper and more basic was needed, and Detroit was planning just such a car. In 1958, two Ford Australia execs sighted a Falcon prototype in Michigan and declared: ‘We’ll have some of that, cheers!’, or some such. At the same time, Chrysler, too, invested heavily in Australia, restyling a discarded US Plymouth as the Royal from 1957 to 1963, but sales were sluggish. Its 1962 Valiant successor did far better initially, but The Malaise set in by 1971’s VH series and sales nosedived, forcing Chrysler to exit Australia entirely by the end of that decade. Meanwhile, the British Motor Corporation (BMC) had tried and failed with various Morris and Austin models from the late 1950s, including the Major and Elite respectively, the advanced 1800 of 1966 and its short-lived X6 Tasman/Kimberly replacement from 1970. Long forgotten today, the latter was then succeeded by the also-Australia-only Leyland P76 in 1973. An ambitious task, it mimicked American sedans with big size and power, but struggled to sell despite being more progressive than the Holden/Falcon/Valiant triumvirate. Hundreds of millions in today’s money were collectively sunk by each of the above brands, to no avail, leading to factory closures and job losses. Ostensibly, the XC Falcon won 1977 because it was superior to the HX. But GMH’s biggest enemy lay within. Following the 48-215 hitting the top spot in 1950, Holden become overall market leader three years later. Australians loved “Australia’s Own” car. That this car was owned by one of history’s biggest corporations, yet was heavily bankrolled by Federal and State governments, didn’t matter. Nor did the fact the massive profits generated went to America. By 1960 GMH enjoyed 50 per cent market share. Hubris had set in, as the local operation became infamously rich, complacent, ignorant and combative. But increased competition was just around the corner, especially from Japan. And, after spectacular year-on-year growth since 1948, Holden stumbled with the ungainly HD of 1965. Market share fell to 40 per cent in 1968, 30 per cent by 1973 and 25 per cent in 1976. Perfect conditions for the Falcon to swoop in. Happy 50 birthday, XC Falcon.

Just like the dreaded difficult second-album syndrome that can inflict music artists after a smash debut, sometimes carmakers really struggle to replace a successful and/or acclaimed model with something equally so. Arguably history’s first was when the original car to put the world on wheels, the Ford Model T from 1908, was replaced by the Model A. While infinitely better, it also had infinitely more competition in 1927, and so couldn’t hope to replicate the T’s legacy. Here, then, are five of the most infamous in Australian motoring history. Built on a shortened version of the then-new Liberty platform, the original Impreza range barely made a ripple – until the WRX (World Rally Cross) turbo AWD arrived in 1993, redefining small-car performance, dominating rallying for years, and becoming a Sony Playstation superstar along the way. The Subaru came to define the era. But when the hotly anticipated 2000 redesign, leaked online with its buggy round headlights and bulkier proportions, howling disapproval ensued – as did one of the first trials by internet – forcing an unscheduled and embarrassing major facelift within two years. Controversial statement time: the Bugeye is the G2 Impreza to buy, not the Blob-eye or Hawk-eye that followed (and reeked of desperation). Nissan’s Datsun 510 Bluebird – or 1600 as it was known in Australia – was an elegantly minimalist mid-sized sedan from Japan with engine and suspension design engineered by the Prince Motor Company of Skyline fame and inspired by the 1966 BMW 1602/2002 that preceded the original 3 Series. At the time, Japanese cars were still largely dynamically deficient, but the Datsun broke through with buyers and critics alike, while also enjoying enduring motorsport success. This was Nissan’s golden era, with the CSP311 Silvia, B10 Sunny/1000 and Fairlady 240Z highly prized today. However, the 1600’s 180B successor traded all that in for a fussy, dreary and ponderous bore that sold strongly but failed to inspire. Datsun even tried to resurrect the spirit of the 1600 with the similarly styled but dynamically dreadful Stanza of 1978. This was Nissan’s first ‘malaise era’. Dishonourable mention: Datsun B110 1200 to B210 120Y. A facelift of the fourth-generation Commodore, the VE of 2006, the VF has the heartbreaking legacy of being Australia’s last-ever locally designed, engineered and built passenger car. It also spawned all-time greats like the HSV GTS-R, was exported to North America and the UK, and – like Ford’s final Falcon – represented unparalleled value given its performance, front mid-engine/rear-drive layout and sports-sedan (and wagon/ute) styling. A true Aussie legend. Importing the smaller, front-wheel-drive mid-sized Opel Insignia from Germany was never going to cut it as a replacement, but the resulting ZB wouldn’t have been so bad if Holden hadn’t insisted on Commodore badges, infuriating fans in the process. Yet, in key areas and due mainly to its newer development, the ZB was a superior family car to the VF, but it wasn’t a true Commodore. Australians shunned it and the plug was pulled by the end of 2019. The fifth-generation Falcon was the all-Australian EA of 1988. Though considered at the time as one of the best-looking new sedans in the world, it was plagued with quality issues that, to Ford’s credit, were quickly resolved. And by the time the EL facelift arrived in 1996, this Falcon series was considered best in class, and jostled with the VS Commodore for domination. But the AU Falcon bombed. People despised its droopy styling and strange grille, especially against the handsome VT Commodore that consequently surged ahead in popularity. Today, it is the Falcon that is more revered, but the AU’s failure forced its maker down a path of debt that, while leading to the legendary Barra and Territory as this country’s only-ever locally made SUV, eventually also collapsed Ford’s Australian manufacturing division after 91 years. A brutal legacy. With its classy American styling update over the preceding, fussy EJ, the 1963 EH Holden was a monumental success, becoming the fastest-selling local car in history with nearly 257,000 sold in just 18 months. That’s an incredible 14,275 monthly registration average, fanned by the introduction of the all-Australian ‘Red’ engine, replacing the old ‘Grey’ anchor that dated back from 1948. At the time, it was considered one of the most advanced and efficient in the global General Motors empire. As it turned out, compact by today’s standards, the EH also came to represent the perfectly sized and proportioned Australian family car as well – a realisation that came way-too late, because its 1965 HD Holden replacement was too big and awkward-looking to resonate in the same way. While not strictly a failure – initial order numbers set records for GMH – the HD’s sales quickly ran out of puff, dropping the monthly sales rate average to 12,780. This gave the rapidly-evolving Falcon a leg-up with consumers that eventually led to the Ford outselling its Holden rival some years later. That gradual chipping away all began with the HD.

This month marks the 40 anniversary of the launch of the Holden VL Commodore in Australia. The fifth and final iteration of the original, German Opel Rekord E-derived (and ultimately HZ Kingswood-usurping) VB Commodore series released back in October 1978, it ranks alongside the most revered Holdens ever. Now a cultural phenomenon, it’s become, to Gen Xers and Millennials mainly, what the 1963 EH is to Baby Boomers. Peak Holden. Here's why. The most changed Commodore to date That 1970s-era VB changed little through its VC (1980), VH (1981) and VK (1984) facelifts, though the latter did adopt an extra side window, plastic bumpers and truly ugly square instruments to set it apart. Frankly, buyers became bored, rivals were trying harder and sales were in a worrying downward spiral. Stylistically, then, the VL’s strikingly low, sloping bonnet, featuring slimmer yet far-more effective headlights, seemed almost revolutionary compared to any previous Commodore. Inspired by the mid-sized JD Camira’s facelift of 1984, they also provided a welcome change after seven years of samey front-end design themes. The flagship Calais, meanwhile, added pop-up light covers for dramatic visual demarcation. How Eighties is that? And while the mid-body and cabin sections carried through from the preceding VK, save for a tacky rehash of the upper-dash architecture and refurbished seats in Calais, further back, a small kick-up at the trailing edge of the boot lid gave the sedans a distinctive duck-tail silhouette, for a five-per-cent aero improvement. The wagon, meanwhile, made do with a bumper that merely hung back there like a full nappy. Never mind. But the VL’s defining change lurked underneath the bonnet. Breaking with tradition Wildly controversial leading up to the launch, to meet unleaded petrol requirements, the VL ditched Holden’s venerable 3.3-litre overhead-valve iron-block in-line six-cylinder (I6) Black petrol engine (in 86kW carburettor and 106kW fuel-injection guises), for Nissan’s more-advanced 114kW 3.0-litre overhead-cam RB30E, which also debuted soon after in the locally made R31 Skyline. Remember when they actually made Skylines in Australia? Dubbed Powertech 6Ei and imported from Japan, it was 33 per cent more powerful yet 15 per cent more economical than the previous 3.3 base, bringing with it a GM-H-first electronic four-speed auto. Fitting the Nissan I6 in “Australia’s Own” was seen as a betrayal amongst some loyalists, politicians and unionists (since the switch meant a Holden engine factory closed), though it quickly became the literal heart of the VL’s enduring appeal. Especially the cop-car-favourite 150kW RB30ET turbocharged option that followed from July, which even blitzed the 122kW 4.9-litre V8 (an unleaded revamp of the 1969-vintage original still stuck with a three-speed auto option) – as well as anything arch rival and market-leader Ford bothered to muster. Perhaps that’s why the contemporary XF Falcon generally commands a fraction of this-era Commodore’s resale values. Burn! Too little, too late, for GM-H Yet, for all intents and purposes, the VL helped end General-Motors-Holden’s (GM-H) as we knew it. Firstly, the Commodore failed to reel in the high-flying Falcon, which was comfortably Australia’s most popular car at the time, owning some 15 per cent of the total vehicle market at its peak. Though more popular with private buyers, only once, in April 1986, did the VL hit the top spot, and only by three units. The end-of-year tally was nearly 55,000 versus over 66,000 registrations. The 1987 results were worse: 53,000 against nearly 70,000, in the XF’s favour. Fleet buyers preferred the visibly-wider (by nearly 140mm) Falcon over Commodore because of the former’s greater size, perceived higher-quality interior (Holden’s build quality was dreadful) and more-predictable road manners. No doubt Ford’s brilliant marketing helped, too. Secondly, the VL also suffered at the hands of an increasingly more-aggressive Mitsubishi, which burst back into the large-car segment in 1985, after a four-year absence following the end of the ancient Chrysler Valiant it inherited, with the innovative, wide-bodied Magna – the first of its kind among medium-sized cars anywhere in the world. A massive hit, the latter embarrassed the VL for interior space and set new local standards in refinement, and continued to challenge Holden and Falcon for the next 20 years. Thirdly, that Nissan engine was a financial disaster for GM-H, reportedly costing more than twice as much per unit than when the deal was struck years before, due to unfavourable currency fluctuations. Unable to make a profit with the VL, Holden couldn’t catch a break. That, along with mounting debt partly accrued due to the over-capitalisation and long-term sales underperformance of the also-Opel-based Camira project – a doomed endeavour given how close in size and price the two Holden family cars were – effectively bankrupted GM-H. On December 9, 1986, GM in Michigan bailed Holden out, and split the operations into the Holden Motor Company (manufacturing) and Holden Engine Company, the latter becoming a key export earner later on, allowing the brand to be less-encumbered with debt in the lead-up to the larger, second-generation Commodore’s release in August, 1988. The car behind the complicated legacy Whether the VL was a success or failure depends on your point of view. Commercially it under-performed, but critically… well, things were complicated. Available in government cheapo-spec SL, fleet-fodder Executive, private-buyer-baiting Berlina, luxury Calais and performance SS grades – with the latter trio being sedan-only bar one brief exception – it offered a broader choice than a very-complacent Ford. Actually, that’s a little harsh, as Ford was stretched developing the largely new-from-the-ground-up EA Falcon, along with the SA Capri convertible. What Holden desperately lacked were responses to the XF-based ute, panel van and long-wheelbase luxury car (Fairlane rival), as these were the provenance of the full-sized WB line-up that ceased in 1985. The VN-derived VG ute and VQ Statesman/Caprice twins wouldn’t surface until 1990. Contemporary reviews loved the Nissan I6’s BMW-levels of power delivery and straight-line performance, especially at the SL’s price point, and swooned over the turbo’s sensational speed and smoothness. But many also criticised the VL’s retrograde steering and suspension revisions that were meant to fix previous models’ sharp steering, but instead resulted in duller handling, excessive body movement and a lumpier ride. Fail. Holden was praised for solely offering a cheap V8, since Ford dropped theirs years before (and not rectified until 1991’s EB series), giving caravanning and boating-obsessed Australians an affordably torquey towing option, which nobody could match. To stoke VL sales, a Vacationer special arrived by mid 1987, while another – badged ‘200 Series’ in time for Australia’s Bicentennial – largely served as a spoiler for the EA Falcon the following March. HSV is born This was also the era of Holden’s very public breakup with racing hero Peter Brock over his infamous Polarizer engine-efficiency enhancer that GM-H wanted no part of. This led to the in-house Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) replacing Brock’s Holden Dealer Team, resulting in the HSV VL SV88 as the first in a long line of hot Commodores. An early standout was the HSV VL SS Group-A SV, unkindly branded the Plastic Pig or Batmobile despite boasting up to 231kW, developed to meet racing homologation regulations by Walkinshaw. But, with its outrageous body kit and pricing, sales stalled (it was released as VN came on stream), though now they’re a highly sought-after. VL afterlife With so much at stake, the VN arrived with huge fanfare in August 1988, and immediately addressed many of its predecessor’s perceived shortcomings, being equal-largest in class with Falcon, far-more modern inside and out and dynamically a better-behaved proposition. A more suitable family car for Australia, in other words. But the thing is, with the financially debilitating Nissan engine deal cancelled, the VN’s powertrain replacement – this time to a rough old Buick 3.8-litre V6 from North America – sealed the VL’s place in Holden folklore. Even with the very non-GM engine code name, RB30E is now considered one of the greats. If nothing else, the Commodore’s quick ascension to the top (a position it would continuously swap with the Falcon until the disastrous AU a decade later, but that’s another story) proves that Australians are basically size queens. Overall, 151,008 VLs were made over about 30 months, a record for any Commodore at the time, with 134,795 built for Australia, 4322 exported mostly to South East Asia and 12,720 in assembled from completely knocked-down components in New Zealand and Indonesia. The final first-gen Commodore may have lost the battle against the XF, but the big Holden eventually overtook – and outlived – the Falcon. The journey back began here. More importantly, it won the affection of Australian enthusiasts and loyalists like no other before or since – thanks ironically to that controversial Nissan heart within, saving the Commodore for 33 more years. Happy 40 birthday, VL.

Cathy, Thorpey, Kylie and Nikki had just shown the world that Australia can hold its own in sports and culture, we’d given quite a few of our guns away, the Millenial Bug wasn’t such a concern anymore… and three sedans dominated Aussie roads. A quarter of a century ago, the year 2000 was just in the rear-view, and the sales charts looked very different to today. What better time than 25 years later to look back at the cars and brands Australians were heading to the showroom for? Not only were there fewer utes and SUVs being sold, they didn’t even make up a third of the new vehicle sales in the country combined that year.  Utes and SUVs were lumped together in the same section of the VFACTS report (the sales figures industry stakeholders, pundits and media receive each month) alongside heavy trucks. Only 8413 new Toyota RAV4s were sold, making the Daewoo Lanos (9029 sales) more popular that year.  Compare that to 2025, when the RAV4 ranked second in sales for the year with a whopping 51,947 units, only topped by the Ranger (56,555). Speaking of which, how did our now-favourite utes fare in 2000? The Ford Courier, the Ranger’s predecessor, sold just 6769 units, while the HiLux managed to hop into the top 10 with 21,509 sales. Still somewhat short of its 51,297 in 2025. To be fair, if you’d asked someone if they were buying a Ford ute, the Courier wouldn’t have been the first thing to come to mind. Ford sold 13,698 Falcon utes in the year 2000, putting it well ahead of its Commodore rival’s 6361. That can be explained easily, Holden didn't build a new ute for the VT generation Commodore of the late-’90s, instead continuing to sell the VS ute alongside the VT sedan. The near-new AU Falcon ute (released in mid-1999) had the car-based ute market covered for the turn of the century. Those two now-gone badges, along with the enduring Toyota Camry and the impressive Mitsubishi Magna, were impossible to avoid on Aussie roads then, with the Commodore, Falcon, Camry and Magna being first, second, third and fifth (thanks to the Corolla in fourth) most popular cars in the country in 2000. Between them they contributed to the total 198,766 large passenger cars sold in 2000, which made up 35.9 per cent of the year’s new vehicle sales. In 2025, large passenger cars made up just 2285 sales, or 0.2 per cent of the market. Small cars made up the other major chunk of sales back in 2000, with 154,050 sales being 27.8 per cent of the market. They were 72,222 sales and 6.0 per cent of last year’s market share. The aforementioned Daewoo was in the top 10 brands (just) in terms of sales for the year 2000, but was the only brand in that list that no longer exists. A scroll through the list shows other long-gone names like Daihatsu, Saab and Proton, and one not-so-long-gone name — Citroen. Daewoo Nubira? Daihatsu Sirion? Even the Proton Satria? These forgotten cars all sold in the thousands back then. Giants like Kia and Hyundai have come a long way, too. The brands once known for the Excel or Accent, plus the Kia Rio in its most ‘cheap and cheerful’ phase (RIP) are now global powerhouses with new technology and reliability commonly in the same sentence as their badge names.  Hyundai, at least, was still a top-10 player back then. Below, there are tables with the most popular models and brands from the year 2000 and the figures we gleaned from the data — note the badge names have been consolidated so that cars with Commodore (for example) includes all body types. Top 10 cars sold in Australia in 2000 Top 10 cars brands in Australia in 2000    

Ford CEO Jim Farley has gone on the record with his support for development of a new rear-wheel drive Ford sedan.

In nearly 140 years of the motor vehicle, history records only two Australian cars that truly left their mark on the world – even to this day.

Holden’s first big blunder, launched 60 years ago, was serious enough to reverberate right through to the very end in 2020. And beyond.

What have been the most significant Australian cars since January 1, 2000 so far? With the first 25 years of the 21st century now out of the way, we rate the 10 most important models that left their mark, or came into their own afterwards.