Ford Falcon News

New-vehicle manufacturing will never return to Australia – at least not as we knew it. Setting up full-scale production of a new car – as we saw with the Holden Commodore or Ford Territory – would be a $2 billion exercise today, says Engineering Director and Premcar partner Bernie Quinn. Having been involved with Ford’s FPV program and Premcar’s latest remanufacturing operation producing Australian-focused off-road capable Nissan Navara and Patrol Warriors, Quinn is intimately aware of the challenges.When CarsGuide asked about the viability of a full-on new-vehicle program, Quinn summed it up simply: “That’s not where the future lies. That would be awesome, but I just don’t think that’s going to happen.“What we are proposing – and what we’re doing – is secondary manufacturing. Taking global products which have been manufactured in low-cost countries, like Thailand, and adapting those to the Australian market. “There’s no reason why that can’t apply to EVs. And there’s no reason why that couldn’t apply to an EV conversion of a dual-cab ute, for example,” says Quinn.You might have spotted the ROEV project that had aspirations of taking HiLuxes and Rangers and converting them to electric vehicles – Premcar was involved on the engineering side. “We were working with ROEV but they’ve since changed their strategy and they’re not going to go ahead with that conversion.”ROEV has pivoted into artificial intelligence-driven software that can predict the most efficient vehicle type and powertrain for certain use cases. But Bernie still sees a future in localisation projects.“There’s 20,000 dual-cab utes in the Pilbara. The companies that work in the mining industry in the Pilbara have ESG requirements – corporate requirements – that are beyond government legislation.“So if they want to say ‘we’ve got to be all-electric by 2030’, well, there’s no vehicle that can do that. How would you service that market? Well, you might do an EV conversion. That’s what that project was all about,” explains Quinn. He notes that it would cost “a few million” to service that demand, far less than the $2 billion to engineer and produce a ground-up vehicle here. Only LDV offers a basic electric ute in Australia with manufacturers like Toyota and Ford dragging their heels on this type of vehicle. And when Australian vehicle manufacturing ended for good in October 2017 with the final Holden Commodore ‘VF II’ the people with knowledge didn’t necessarily disappear from the scene. Many remain here, now being employed by companies such as Premcar, Walkinshaw and RMA automotive to work on conversions, upgrades and localisation programs.Premcar has delivered 10,000 Warriors since 2018, while EV ute conversions have gone a little quiet, although SEA electric is still around.In simple terms, Australian manufacturing isn’t dead. The future just looks very different to Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons.

If you have around $20,000 to spend on a used ute, it makes more sense to consider the Australian-made later-model Holden VE and VF utes made up to 2017, along with the Ford FG and FGX Super Cab and Cab Chassis utes through to 2016, rather than imported truck-based alternatives like a 2019 LDV T60, 2014 Ford Ranger or 2011 Toyota HiLux, and here's why.

Cars like the Yaris and Corolla are a touch too pricey for many first car buyers to consider now - so what fills that space?

Has it really been 10 years since Ford announced that it would cease making vehicles in Australia? The actual date, Thursday, May 23, 2013, happened to coincide with the national press launch of Holden's all-important VF Commodore – Australia's last-ditch effort to reverse freefalling large-car sales as well as revive exports with the US-bound Chevrolet SS version.

It's a decade since Holden unveiled its final and some say greatest model ever in Australia, the VF Commodore.

Australia's importance in developing dual-cab utes with global aspirations has never been higher, with our expertise now called on for almost every model from every major ute brand in the country.When Australia's manufacturing industry crumbled - taking w

Following on from our last list of future classics – featuring up-and-comers like the Ford Territory Turbo, Holden Crewman and Nissan Skyline wagon ­– here are four more emerging Aussie greats we reckon are destined for far-bigger things. A word of warning, as usual: Don’t delay!

For all the talk of electric vehicles lately, you'd be forgiven for thinking that petrol and diesel cars were a thing of the past.Given the slow uptake of EVs in Australia, and slow progress on incentives of any kind, internal combustion powered cars are

Ford's BA Falcon has just turned 20 years old, so we take a look back at how and why it remains one of the greatest Australian cars of all time.

If choice is a luxury, then Australian new-car buyers were rolling in it a decade ago.