Ford Falcon 1990 News

And not without reason. There have been some desperately underwhelming four-cylinder cars sold in Australia over the years. Here are a few of the fours that flopped. AUDI TT When the cute coupe first hit Australia in the late nineties it was dozy with a capital D, thanks to 1.8-litre turbo power delivery and gearing that was tweaked for 200km/h autobahn action. Things only changed when a senior Audi engineer hit Melbourne and was stunned to be out-gunned at every set of lights by Commodore and Falcon taxis. CHRYSLER NEON A 2.0-litre engine should have been fine for the time, but the American pretender was underdone and a three-speed auto from the dark ages killed it. There was lots of talk about go-kart handling, but reviewers found crappy quality and a severe lack of go. HOLDEN COMMODORE STARFIRE FOUR Definitely the worst Commodore in the car's history, with a gasping 1.9-litre motor - a chopped-down inline six - that had zero performance and terrible response. Holden's response to global oil shortages came in the VC Commodore but, ironically, it needed such thrashing that the economy was often worse than the six. Among its many derogarty nicknames was "Backfire Four". HOLDEN CAMIRA 1.6 The first 'world' car to reach Australia, the Camira was lacklustre in so, so many ways. But worst off all was the undersized and overstretched four-cylinder engine. In a land where torque is tough, this was a loser and even later growth to 1.8 and 2.0 litres failed to erase the early setback. NISSAN BLUEBIRD  Billed as 'Australia's first four-cylinder limousine', the Bluebird of 1981 was anything but luxurious. A body built from recycled Coke cans, underwhelming quality from the factory in Clayton and a 2.0-litre engine that was past its best meant the car struggled through to 1986. PORSCHE 944 S2 A giant 3.0-litre four was the biggest of its type in 1989. Porsche was doing everything it could to find friends for its baby coupe and the four-pot did make 155 kiloWatts, but it took the arrival of the Boxster - soon to get a 21st century four - to turn the tide.  

Lender Secure Funding appointed insolvency firm McGrath Nicol last week, with receivers and managers Shaun Fraser and Mike Hill taking up responsibilities immediately. “They are evaluating the business and their aim is to sell it as a going concern,” says a spokesperson for the firm. “They’re aiming to get a sale process beginning shortly and at the moment is it is business as usual - sales and service are taking place under normal conditions. “The property is leasehold and the receivers at this point are saying they are confident of being able to sell the business as a going concern.” The Dale Ford dealership on the Hume Highway, Bankstown, has a long history in Sydney – and was once owned and run by racing legend Sir Jack Brabham. It grew into a flagship among a network of dealerships throughout western Sydney. The current name was given by Ian Dale, who bought the business in the mid-1980s. Owners Rex Conway and John Stark had worked for Dale Ford during the 1970s and 1980s before taking over the dealership. Ford spokesperson Sinead Phipps said the manufacturer was considering the role and need of a Ford franchise remaining in the area. “We’re working through that at the moment – we need to see what the receivers come back with in the short term,” she said. “It’s a significantly sized dealership, so we would imagine they have a large service client base. For those customers who need their vehicles serviced there are other alternatives in the general area – but they would have to drive some distance. That’s just one of the things we’re looking this week.”

...should probably take a closer look at the latest Nascar racer for the blue oval brand.  It's based on the new Mondeo and looks both surprisingly normal and exceptionally tough. Ford will switch to the new look for the 2013 Sprint Cup season in the USA, when Australia's Marcos Ambrose should be behind the wheel of one of the new-look racecars. But there is more to the new Nascar than another racecar. The switch in 2013 is part of the global plan for the Mondeo and Fusion twins, as well as move towards Nacar racers that look more like their (distant) road car cousins. It also shows how a Falcon could potentially look - if you squint a little - if Ford Motor Company in Detroit decides that the Australian car needs to be moved into the same global family as the next Mondeo and Fusion. There is clear potential to do that, since the mechanical package under the new Mondeo-Fusion is capable of being stretched and tweaked into a size that would work for Australia. Other details? No-one knows. But Ford is talking up the Nascar switch in the USA and describes the Fusion racer as "an effort to bring brand identity back to the sport". ”We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return ‘stock car’ to Nascar," says Jamie Allison, the director of Ford Racing. “I think fans, when they see the car, are just going to smile and cheer. There is just something natural about seeing race cars that look like cars in their driveways.” Development of the new Nascar was even led by Ford, instead of its race teams. Ford Design Center staff led by Garen Nicoghosian, and Ford aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus spent a year ensuring the racer picks up the design elements from the road car instead of just looking light a high-speed garden shed with fake headlights and a Ford sticker plastered on the nose. "It looks fun to drive and very much eager to go and tear up the track," says Nicoghosian.

The Koreans starred, the Japanese mounted a comeback, and One Ford hit the headlines with an extended family of Focus-based newcomers that it is certain to make a big hit in Australia. But it was one car and the commitment of its company chief that made the most impact as America fought back on the opening day of the 2011 North American International Motor Show. A new investment plan has been finalised since August that will provide a freshen for the Falcon, as well as a range of efficiency improvements, to take the car and the Territory SUV through to at least 2016. It protects more than 3500 jobs at Ford's Victorian manufacturing sites at Broadmeadows and Geelong. The deal was predicted by Carsguide on the weekend and involves investment from both Ford Motor Company and the Federal government, under its Automotive Transformation scheme. Ford confirmed the deal yesterday in an unprecedented move to try and end speculation about the future of the Falcon, following the worst sales year in its history through 2011. Falcon sales fell to less than 19,000 and the total production at Broadmeadows - including Falcon ute and Territory - was only 45,000 vehicles. But Ford is upbeat about the new deal and says it marks a significant turning point for its local production. "There is no way to make this story bad," says the head of Ford Asia-Pacific, Joe Hinrichs. He is present at an announcement on the opening day of the Detroit motor show that also includes Ford's global chief Alan Mulally, local president Bob Graziano, and Federal Minister for Industry, Senator Kim Carr. "A $103 million investment is a very significant amount. I'm very, very pleased about this announcement," says Carr. The fresh Ford deal was pulled together quickly when it became obvious that falling sales were threatening even the short-term future of the Falcon. "We did not have a plan to make this level of investment in the Falcon," admits Hinrichs. He says Ford would not set up a new factory for the relatively low production levels at Broadmeadows, but confirms the company is still profitable and viable. "We're not in the business to lose money," he says. But Hinrichs refuses to comment on anything beyond 2016, even though GM Holden is currently working on a new deal for its factory in Adelaide that will confirm production of two cars through to around 2020. "Does that man this is a 20-year plan? No, candidly. But it gives us several years to decide," he says.

But Joe Hinrichs, the vice president of Ford Motor Company and its president for Asia Pacific and Africa, admits the Falcon -- which recorded dismal sales in 2011 -- “can do better’’. Hinrichs won’t be drawn into discussing a possible replacement of Falcon with an imported, front-wheel drive sedan. “Don’t underestimate the importance of Falcon and Territory to us,’’ he says at a Carsguide interview at the opening of the 2012 Delhi motor show where Ford unveiled a new Fiesta-based SUV. While Hinrichs supports the Falcon and says “it’s a great car’’, he is acutely aware that a sub-20,000 sales figure may not be tolerated for long. “At the moment, at our current investment in Falcon, we can sustain the sales of Falcon,’’ he says. “Not forever, however, but at this moment it is sustainable." “It’s still an important part of our company. We have invested in Falcon and have the EcoBoost model coming, and we have substantially upgraded Territory.’’ Mr Hinrichs blames the fall in Falcon sales to issues including the shrinking large car segment “and our share of that getting smaller’’, and a need for it to “do better’’ with its fleet business. “Overall, Ford sales (in Australia) have done well,’’ he says. “But Falcon sales have eroded these improvements. We have to shore up Falcon and Territory and grow the products. That will come via product such as the EcoSport (SUV). “I think you’ll find a stabilisation of Falcon sales. We have the potential to see the end of the decline. Falcon sales can only continue to fall for so long.’’ But Mr Hinrichs admits that he “doesn’t know where the (large car) segment is going to go. People are looking for alternatives and I think that Territory has more potential to rebound than Falcon.’’

Instead of being loaded into landfills, around 10 tonnes of paint sludge a month from Ford's Broadmeadows factory is being shipping to a processing plant where it is converted into fuel to power cement kilns. The project began in August and extends Ford's association with the cement industry - its Geelong foundry provides about 50 tonnes of sand a week to be used in making cement and the company's waste polystyrene is shredded into particles that are used as filler in concrete pavers. The paint sludge is used by Melbourne-based waste processing company Geocycle to substitute up to 10 per cent of the coal traditionally used to power cement kilns. Geocycle is a subsidiary of Cement Australia and company managing director Chris Leon says the offshoot provides an efficient and environmentally responsible way for corporations to minimise their waste. "We're reducing the volume of waste going into landfill and in the process cutting down on the amount of fossil fuel that is being used,"he says. The first shipment of sludge was sent to Geocycle's processing facility in Dandenong, Melbourne in August. Ford says 56 per cent of the Broadmeadows site's solid waste is already recycled.

Ford's new Door Edge Protector is the first active system to help prevent costly dents and scratches and to provide a buffer to protect neighbouring vehicles. It isn't available on any Fords sold in Australia - yet. Door Edge Protector, which debuts in January 2012 on the Ford Focus, activates as the door is opened. A concealed protective flap slips into position when the door opens, providing a buffer that helps prevent damage to paint and body work Ford research shows up to 57 per cent of drivers have experienced door damage in car park incidents, Ford UK says the Door Edge Protector will be one of those features that we think will make customers say "Why didn't someone think of this sooner?". They say it will help parents with children in the backseat or anyone who needs to park in a tight spot. The feature defends against more than 90 per cent of variously positioned obstructions to the front doors and 85 per cent at the rear doors. Offering maximum protection with minimal impact on weight and without affecting existing mechanisms or side impact performance, the Door Edge Protector retracts in just 60 milliseconds to allow for doors being slammed shut and includes a clutch mechanism that prevents damage if the flap is obstructed when returning. A special rubber compound is used that can withstand thousands of usage cycles and creates a minimum of noise as it springs into position. The protective flap is quickly and easily replaced by heavy users, with the unit simply clipping into place.

This avatar, now being built by Ford using data from Chinese hospitals, is a critical step in recreating a human baby to ensure its maximum chance of survival in any vehicle accident. But this model - one of the world's first digital child crash dummies - won't take the place of traditional crash test dummies. Ford's senior technical leader for its safety and research division, Dr Steve Rouhana, says: "We want to better understand how injuries to younger occupants may be different". "They don't take the place of crash dummies, which measure the effect of forces on the body. Instead, they are used as a way to understand how to further improve restraint system effectiveness through better understanding of injury mechanisms." Making a baby in digital form is intensely complex. Ford took 11 years building an adult version and committing it to the computer. Ford's task, announced this week, is to build a digital human model of a child with more lifelike re-creations of the skeletal structure, internal organs and brain. The model for the avatar comes from child MRIs to allow better a understanding of how crash forces affect children and adults differently. "We study injury trends in the field, and we know that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people from age one to 34," says Dr Rouhana. "Our restraint systems are developed to help reduce serious injuries and fatalities in the field, and they have proven to be very effective. But crash injuries still occur. The more you know about the human body, the more we can consider how to make our restraint systems even better." He says that building the model of a person is just like building a model of a car. "You start with your surface geometry for each component and any subcomponent it contains - in this case the geometry of the human body and its internal organs." Ford admits that child data are not as extensively available as adults. It has contracted into a one-year agreement with Tianjin University of Science and Technology, which is working with Tianjin Children's Hospital, to obtain child geometry and basic body information from sources like MRIs and CAT scans provided by volunteers. Ford says, in a statement, that Tianjin is one of the largest cities in China, close to the capital of Beijing. "All other information for the project will be obtained from public domain literature," it says.

Decisions are needed soon on the future replacements of both cars, which are set for a total overhaul within five years.  Australia's third maker, Toyota, is already committed to a new - generation Camry that will hit the road later this year. It is also investing more than $300 million in a local engine factory and will have a replacement for its current Camry hybrid in 2012. But there are more questions than answers on the Falcon and Commodore - which will each cost more than $500 million to renew for sales beyond 2015.  Ford's global boss Alan Mulally will face a grilling at the opening of the North American International Motor Show and his counterpart at General Motors, Mark Reuss, will get similar questions. Both men are well connected to Australia - Mulally has been guiding the blue oval brand for more than five years and has visited Broadmeadows, while Reuss is a former president of GM Holden - and know the critical importance of their local heroes. Holden is already hinting through its current chief, Mike Devereux, that it sees an ongoing future for a large, rear-wheel drive replacement for the Commodore. He tells Carsguide yesterday that Holden has a solid plan and is tracking towards another year of profitable sales in 2011. "My goal is to be the best car company in Australia. A very profitable, great car company. I think there are outcomes to being great," says Devereux. But Mulally rocked the Australian motor industry exactly a year ago - at the opening of last year's Detroit motor show - when he refused to confirm a future for a local Falcon.  Since then, two potential paths for the Falcon have emerged - some sort of joint-venture development with the next Mustang in the USA or a twinning with a global Taurus sedan under the worldwide One Ford program. In either case, Mulally has said repeatedly that there will not be an 'orphan' car in Australia without some sort of global synergy.  Ford Australia also faces a major crunch this year on local sales, with the Falcon continuing to lag below sustainable levels and needing a significant boost from the much-updated Territory SUV that hits the road in the first quarter.

The Ranger, which is still more than six months away from showrooms, is a reflection of Ford Australia's new role in the blue oval world. Designed and developed at Broadmeadows, and twinned with the Mazda BT-50, the Ranger is planned to finally give Ford a rival to the benchmark Toyota HiLux. But the international sweep of the Ford stand - imported from Europe for the local event - is also reflected in the Focus RS and the latest update of the mid-sized Mondeo. "Today is our most significant motor show ever," says Ford Australia's president, Marin Burela.  "Australia is playing a key role in the global Ford product story.  Today's show is the springboard to the future." The Ranger was unveiled at the show by Ford's Asia-Pacific president, Joe Hinrichs, who promises big things from the ute. "We want to transform the pickup experience," he says.