Ford Falcon 2015 News

Mark Skaife has declared incoming manufacturer Volvo is not a replacement for Ford in the , with the V8 Supercars commissioner set to do everything he can to make sure the famous brand remains in the

Ford’s Falcon EcoBoost obviously wants to be zoomed into the viral world. And what better way to do so than with two talking cane toads? Amphibian buddies, Ralphie and Les are the new face of Ford’s online-only video promoting the recent Falcon EcoBoost launch. Focusing on humour and clear messaging, Ford has stepped into the viral world in an attempt to further connect with their already fiercely loyal followers – a move that has surprised many. And surprise is what they’re aiming for. Yes, the Falcon EcoBoost is surprisingly quiet, the marketing avenue is surprising and – wait for it – the video has a comical surprise ending. Enjoy.  

Certification of the new EcoBoost Falcon was done with premium 95-octane unleaded fuel but the car can happily run on a more basic brew.  Standard 91-octane petrol is fine for the car and will potentially save around $150 a year at the pump, based on Carsguide figures.  Although it does take the edge off the performance very slightly, the man who led EcoBoost engine development work for the Ford fighter says only a tiny number of people would notice. "The difference is less than five per cent. It's less than a customer would pick," David Mitchell, who heads powertrain development at Ford Australia, reveals to Carsguide. He also says he would be happy to run an EcoBoost Falcon on standard unleaded. "I'd stick 91 in it. Every time. I's absolutely engineered for 91," he says. The EcoBoost Falcon is the latest in a growing global range of green cars from Ford that put an efficiency twist on small-capacity turbocharged engines. BMW and Fiat also have their EfficientDynamics and MultiAir green leaders, but Ford eventually plans to have an EcoBoost engine for every model from the baby Fiesta - which has a 1.0-litre EcoBoost in Europe that's also coming to Australia - through to the hulking F-Series truck, which has a 3.6-litre V6 EcoBoost engine that's the most popular choice today in the USA. The 2.0-litre EcoBoost engine in the Falcon is already fitted to a wide range of models in Europe - from the Ford Mondeo to the Range Rover Evoque and Volvo XC60 - but there has been extensive local development work including durability testing in the USA. The final result - using 95-octane unleaded - is 179 kiloWatts of power and 353 Newton-metres of torque, with a combined fuel economy figure of 8.1 litres/100km. Dropping back to 91 unleaded only costs 2.5 kiloWatts and three Newton-metres, although the torque peak of 350 Newton-metres rises from 2000 to 3000 revs. Mitchell says Ford  was obliged to do its certification work on the EcoBoost Falcon with premium unleaded and all the press, promotional and advertising figures are based on the results. However, he is a strong advocate for 91 unleaded in the car. "You do ge a small benefit in performance with 95, but 91 is still regarded as a cost-effective choice," 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.’’

 As cars have been stockpiled on grass in recent weeks, and Falcon sales have failed to recover from a massive slump in January, the company has been forced to act to match its supply to showroom demand. It is reducing daily output at Broadmeadows from 260 to just 209 cars - equivalent to 45,000 a year - and the workforce is being reduced to match the load. Ford says it will re-deploy as many workers as possible, with the remainder to be offered voluntary redundancy packages. But Ford insists there is no threat to its local manufacturing operation. "We are committed to the Ford brand and continuing to produce vehicles in Australia," the chairman of Ford Australia, Bob Graziano, said yesterday. He also insists the company is hard at work on the scope and design of the next Falcon. Ford's production cut is a permanent reaction to a showroom slide which has seen large-car sales in Australia dropping consistently over the past 10 years. The Holden Commodore is still the country's favourite car, but has occasionally been trumped in monthly sales totals by the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3 over the past two years, as overall sales in the class have dropped by 53 per cent over the decade. Ford has been using 'down days' to reduce its production over the past six months but is now acting on a permanent cut, even though it is expecting more demand soon for its updated - and finally diesel-  powered - Territory SUV. "Ford is committed to making the necessary changes to ensure we are producing what Australian drivers want and value, which drives the viability of our business," Graziano said. Ford is trying to highlight the potential upside for both the Territory and Falcon, which will get a new LPG engine later this year and a four-cylinder EcoBoost motor in the first quarter of 2012. But the potential boost in showrooms is too far into the future for Ford. "We've been investigating this for the last few months. We've been looking at the segment and where it's been going," said Ford spokesperson, Sinead McAlary. "It's not just us doing it. Toyota and Holden are also using 'down days'." The redundancies at Ford are the first since the end of 2008. "We copped a fair amount of flak then but it was the right thing to do, and it allowed us to return to profitability in 2009," McAlary said. Ironically, Ford's move comes in the same week that Toyota is reducing its production at Altona in Melbourne and after Holden reported a $112 million - and a $223 million turnaround - in its financial results for 2010.

The dedicated gas Falcon is also good news for anyone hit by the rising price of petrol. The EcoLPi liquid phase injection promises zero compromises for the Falcon's six-cylinder engine, right up to the XR6, with  27 per more power and 10 per cent more torque than previous E-Gas LPG system and fuel consumption cut by 12-15 per cent. The new-age LPG system is coming a little late, a delay put down to the engineering load at Broadmeadows for the global T6 pickup development program, but nothing like the six-month overrun on the EcoBoost four-cylinder Falcon that won't hit showrooms until January 2012. Ford says it is using the most up-to-date LPG technology available, with much-improved operation and driveability than the previous ventur-  style vapour system fitted to its E-Gas Falcons. The heart of the system is an injection system that is similar to a conventional petrol engine, using a high-pressure fuel rail that delivers liquid LPG directly to the intake port. So there is no gas conversion before the liquid is fired into the cylinder for combustion. The system is also more controlled and efficient, which provides the boost to performance while also cutting consumption and CO2 emissions. "Falcon EcoLPi offers customers the power, torque and overall engine performance they expect from a traditional Aussie six ... while at the same time delivering the fuel costs of a smaller car," says the president of Ford Australia, Bob Graziano. Ford has yet to reveal the exact economy of the LPG system or the pricing.

While Holden continues with a traditional rear-wheel drive Commodore, Ford intends to switch to new-age all-wheel drive on its Falcon.The change to a Falcon based on a global product program - twinned with the Taurus sedan and Explorer SUV in the USA - could potentially bring an end to local production of the Falcon at Broadmeadows.News of the rival product plans broke yesterday at the opening of the North American International Auto Show, with Holden's president Mike Devereux speaking openly for the first time about the future of the Commodore and Ford's global design boss J Mays delivering the strongest pointer yet on the Falcon."I know that rear-wheel drive is very important to the Australian market but we're not talking about that right now. We're looking at it, but I would not be holding my breath," Mays said."I think the chances are that it will be all-wheel drive. We're pretty confident we can find the right answer. The same things that appeal in a rear-wheel drive car in Australia appeal to a rear-wheel drive car in the United States."In contrast, Devereux confirmed GM Holden is definitely planning for a rear-drive successor to the current VE Commodore and admitted that Ford's likely switch could tip the decision very quickly as his company looks for a potential showroom advantage."The rear-drive sedan may not be flavour of the month in other countries, but it is still very much alive in Australia. If we can deliver the right and the right economy, we can continue on the path we're on," Devereux said. "If we decide to continue with what we have, that's fine, but we need to be sure that's the right decision because we can't go back in time and change it."The product decisions are crucial for the two local carmakers, as both must commit more than $500 million to the successors to their current cars.Ford could potentially save money by tapping into a global program, instead of trying again for money to renew the 'orphan' Falcon only built and sold in Australia, while Holden could get its cash break by only renewing the basic body on top of its existing mechanical package.Toyota has already confirmed another new Camry for Altona in the final quarter of this year, as well as a $300 million engine factory and an updated Camry Hybrid early in 2012.The Ford and Holden programs must both be confirmed this year, as the long lead times in the motor industry means it could take as much as four years to put the new Falcon and Commodore on the road. Both brands intend to switch sometime soon after the start of 2015, although the new Holden could be as late as 2017.There has been widespread speculation about the future of the Falcon and Commodore for more than two years, with Ford triggering a media frenzy in Detroit at exactly the same time last year when global CEO Alan Mulally refused to confirm a production future for the Falcon. This time he was very controlled, although he could not control Mays."We love the Falcon. We have nothing new to address, other than we love serving the Australian customer," Mulally said. "We have nothing new to report today."But Mays confirmed a global product program intended to spawn the next generation of large Ford vehicles, including the Falcon, Taurus and Explorer."We'll make some initial decisions about the design spectrum. We'll go out and test those ideas with the customers and narrow it down to one car at the end of the year," Mays said.

Some of it is inspiring, some is disappointing, some of it is enlightening and a lot is plain hooey and hot air.It is great to listen to transplanted Holden chief Mark Reuss talk about calling customers to get a feeling of how General Motors is rated in the USA, Ford chief Alan Mulally drops some great hints about the Falcon being twinned with the next Ford Mustang, and sales boss Ian Robertson talks enthusiastically about the future of Mini inside the BMW Group.But the one line that hits me hardest comes from someone I have never seen before, a man called Mike Robinson.  "The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones. They had better ideas," he says.It gives me a light-bulb moment on the future of the automobile and helps cut through all the various technologies on display in Detroit. Particularly the GM Volt, the company's range-extended hybrid hero car.It should not be a surprise, because Robinson is the new 'futurist' at GM, taking over from Larry Burns. He is quieter than Burns, and not as edgy as the man with one of the biggest brains in the car business, but he still makes a lot of sense.Robinson's official title at GM is vice-president, Environment, Energy and Safety but what he really does is try to crystal-ball the future.  He has a lot to say and a lot of it makes sense, so it's good to share some of his insights.Robinson has a clear take on GM's original electric car, the EV-1, which sparked the movie 'Who killed the electric car?'. "It just wasn't the right time," he says.So, what about electric cars for 2010 and beyond."There is no silver bullet that we know of," he says, stating the obvious.  But his take on batteries gives a lot more insight.  "The battery is just a room. It's what you put in that room," he says.Robinson talks across the map, about nuclear power for electricity, a family of Volt-based models, what GM's rivals are doing on future propulsion, and even the take-up rate of the leading-edge cars coming to showrooms in the next few years.He finishes with another simple but worrying sentence. It's one that still has me thinking.  "Technology sells itself a lot easier when the price of fuel is high," he says.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

The engine investment secures the jobs of the company's Broadmeadows and Geelong workers. The new Falcon four will be the greenest large family car available in Australia when it hits the road in 2011. It is one of three new engines planned for the locally made Falcon and Territory. All three engines are part of Ford's global EcoBoost engine strategy announced in the United States earlier this week. Apart from the four-cylinder, the Falcon will also get a hi-tech dedicated LPG six-cylinder engine from next July and the Territory will get a turbodiesel in 2011. But because of the decision, Ford Australia has axed plans to build the Focus small car at Broadmeadows. Focus production was due to start from 2011. However, Ford Australia president, Marin Burela, said no jobs would be lost and the EcoBoost plan would provide jobs stability. Burela said the global financial crisis had made local Focus production unviable and it would have been unprofitable. "The economic climate has changed," he said. "To make a small car viable in this country we needed to bring the most competitive levels of opportunities with that vehicle. "After studying it there was no appropriate way of producing the vehicle locally." The Federal Government will contribute $42 million to Ford's engine plan under its Green Car Innovation Fund as part of its $6.2 billion investment package for the local car industry. The Victorian Government has also contributed an unnamed amount. Industry Minister Senator Kim Carr and the federal secretary of the AMWU vehicle division, Ian Jones, welcomed the decision. "It is an investment in confidence," Jones said. "The workers have been praying for this for some time." Carr said the investment came at a time when the world was going through the worst recession in 100 years. "The global car industry is going through the most radical shake-up in living memory and in this environment the Australian industry is attracting new investment," he said. "The green car fund has given this industry certainty." Burela said the EcoBoost four cylinder would have the same performance but better economy and lower greenhouse emissions than an equivalent six-cylinder engine. It will be sold side-by-side with the Falcon six. Ford will source the four-cylinder engine abroad while the existing Falcon six will continue to be built at Ford's Geelong engine plant. The turbodiesel will also be sourced from overseas. Last November, Ford renewed its commitment to the six-cylinder Falcon engine in place of an imported V6 engine.  

It is safe and sure, this purple kilometre eater, as it sweeps past slower travellers. Now it settles back into a loafing run, swallowing up the lumps of highway. With the going down, out through Goondiwindi and down the Newell highway, onto the Oxley, into Dubbo for the night, there is the anticipation, the dreaming of The Great Race. It is some 1100km from the centre of Brisbane to the hallowed Mount Panorama at Bathurst, 210km west of Sydney. There are truck stops – with dining rooms for professional drivers and prints with campfire Indians dreaming of buffalo. There are wide open plains, stands of cypress pines and tidy country towns. There are the spring-green paddocks of Bathurst, dotted with sheep. And then there is the Mountain, home since 1963 to the greatest of Australian motor races and now the domain of Australia's V8 Supercars. It is the old argument, handed from father to son, Ford versus Holden. This is a solid 12-hour run from Brisbane without red flags and with a co-driver. It is a run through the heartland in a V8 Falcon and V8 Commodore, a run through places where these sedans can stretch out a bit. Out here a V8 tourer makes sense, for comfort, safety and fuel economy. The 5.4litre, Ford V8 returns 12.4litres per 100km going south. Holden's 5.7litre comes in at 11litres per 100km on the run back. The big V8s are strolling here, the Commodore running just over 1500rpm in sixth gear for 110km/h. The four-speed auto Ford is running closer to 2000rpm. Neither car is stressed, not even when the taps are opened to flow past slower-moving machinery. There is need to sweep past, with hard acceleration and some V8 authority, as a little Korean machine is tucked between an interstate trucker and caravaner struggling uphill at 90km/h, and all nose-to-tail. Maybe the Ford or the Holden, slip briefly into the illegal zone. This happens from time to time, for it is a far safer option than hanging out on the wrong side of the bitumen. Tell that to the judge. And tell it on the Mountain, this big lump of hill that rises out the central western plains of NSW. This is a sacred place and on October weekends an extra special place for rumbling and roaring V8 Holdens and Fords that share body shells and some other bits with these road-going SS and XR8 warriors. This year it was again Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly's KMart Commodore at the end of a long day, 161 turns up and over the mountain. Then the tribes disperse, back to all corners of the country. The return is a bit more of a drag, more traffic, more tired. The sandwich stops are quicker, less fun. Up and back the red SS Commodore attracts the most attention. This is the VZ with the fake air-intakes on the flanks. The XR8 is a more subtle purple and there is less detail work. It is bold in the bonnet, the power bulge standing tall and proud. That minimalist feel is carried through to the cabin. It's simple and workmanlike, yet comfortable and more spacious than the SS. The Holden cabin too works well. It is a bit busier and bolder in detail work, with shades of grey, silver and red instrument dials. The SS has more sporting ambience; the XR8 is more sombre in its approach. The Holden turns in a little sharper and the ride is a little edgier. Here with the six-speed manual there is the chance to run up and down the gearbox for maximum effect and best use of the 470Nm of torque for the best chance of getting away from trouble. It may be a little notchy but the six-speed manual is tops for touring. Drop back to fifth for the uphill climbs or a gentle pass, back to fourth for a quick and hard run around another convoy of trucks and trailers. Sixth helps with highway economy. The Ford XR8 is that bit smoother over this 1100km run to the top of the mountain. This is a more gentle tourer, the ride more compliant, the four-speed auto less work. Never be fooled, for when the lever is flicked to sport and revs lift, the 5.4 litre Ford rises to the occasion with a full-throated bellow. There's a little extra, and earlier, torque here over the Holden. And here the Ford recognises its connection to those Falcons running up Bathurst's mountain straight. Neither Ford nor Holden put a wheel wrong over the Brisbane-Bathurst haul. Both cabins are quiet and comfortable, packed with bits from six-stacker CD players to airconditioning and cup holders. Both run with good economy, stress free. Both these heroes can run hard to stay out of trouble on the wrong side of the road. These are fine road machines that pay homage to those mighty V8 Supercars and they still make sense on these long runs.