Ford Territory 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.

Sometimes car companies just get it wrong. Despite all the market research, focus groups, design studies and marketing programs, some cars just don’t sell. Sometimes it’s a case of being the right car at the wrong time, arriving ahead of the curve or after the boom.  We looked at that recently with the Holden Volt, a plug-in hybrid that arrived too soon (and for too much money) to be successful, even if the concept was right. But then there are some cars that are just a complete miss, arriving as an undesirable product. They are, to be blunt, the wrong car at the wrong time. Here are some examples of what happens when carmakers get it wrong. The decision to end local manufacturing for Holden cannot have been an easy one for General Motors management, but it was probably an inevitable one. The decision they did not have to make was to destroy the brand equity, not to mention the national pride and love, in the Commodore badge. While most of the cars on this list are obviously bad choices with the benefit of hindsight, the ZB Commodore was an obviously bad choice at the time. It was meant to soften the blow of the departure of the brilliant and beloved VF Commodore, but it only served to rub salt into the wounds. To the nice folks at Opel, GM’s German division, who developed the car (which was known as the Insignia in Europe) this was like having your glass of beer taken away and replaced with water from a muddy puddle with ‘beer’ written on the glass. It wasn’t a ‘Commodore’ in any way, shape or form, despite what Holden PR tried to spin at the time. Holden and GM should have followed the example Ford set with the Falcon and retired the name with dignity rather than slapping it on a sub-par import. Sometimes in life you’re faced with a 50-50 decision to make and the difference it makes in the long run can be enormous, or even catastrophic. That’s the case with Ford Australia and the Territory Turbo. The Territory was an inspired decision, a great example of delivering the right car at the right time. Ford managed to get in on the SUV craze just as it started to rise in the early 2000s, offering buyers who were starting to look for something taller than a Falcon an in-house alternative. The problem was, in 2006 they decided to expand the line-up and made the wrong call on that 50-50 decision. Legend has it that Ford Australia only had the funds to develop a Territory Turbo OR a Territory diesel, but not both at the same time. In the words of the Knight at the end of that Indiana Jones movie: “They chose poorly.” Thankfully they didn’t shrivel up and die in an instant, like the Indiana Jones’ nemesis, but it was a decision that didn’t help the future of Ford’s local models. By the time the Territory diesel did arrive in 2011, along with a facelift, Ford had lost too much ground to imported rivals and by the end of 2016, the Territory was done.  While Ford’s decision to add the turbocharged ‘Barra’ engine to the Territory seemed logical, given the high demand for that engine in the Falcon XR6 Turbo, it highlighted the difference between the Falcon and Territory buyer. In the same way a diesel Falcon would have been a terrible idea in 2006, so too did the Territory Turbo prove a costly mistake. The Evoque was a brilliant addition to Range Rovers’ line-up, another demonstration of reading the market to perfection and adding a smaller model when that’s what luxury SUV customers were looking for. Unfortunately, the Evoque Convertible was as bad an idea as the Evoque was a good one. And this was one of those ideas that you really could tell wasn’t brilliant at the time. Sure, the SUV market was rapidly changing at that point and there were some unlikely sales hits, namely Audi’s turbo-diesel SQ5. If a diesel SUV can be a popular performance car, surely a convertible would be appealing, right? Wrong. Very, very wrong. Introduced in mid-2016, the final Evoque drop-top rolled off the production line in 2018. A footnote in the history of Range Rover, and one they’d probably like to forget. As Mazda prepares to launch its second and third EVs, the sharply-priced 6e and CX-6e, it can be easy to forget its first attempt. And they might prefer you did. The MX-30 was a bolder-than-average design, with ‘suicide doors’ that were actually more like ‘choke the front seat occupants if you opened the rear doors’, but it fit nicely into the popular Mazda line-up. The problem was what was powering the MX-30. For starters, Mazda hedged its bets, offering its much-hyped EV with a mild-hybrid powertrain option, just to confuse the issue.  Which was needed because the EV only had a small battery and a theoretical driving range of only 200km, but a big price tag of over $66k. While EV sales were starting to increase at this point, so seemingly the time was right, Mazda was behind the times in terms of both capability and cost. It was destined to fail and that’s what it did, quietly pulled from sale after only three years. The American brand’s attempt to crack the lucrative ute (or ‘truck’ if you’re American) market was over before it began. On the one hand you have to give credit to Tesla for not trying to take on Ford, Chevrolet and Ram head on. But, on the other hand, what the heck were they thinking? The Cybertruck was always going to be a niche offering, with Tesla frontman Elon Musk's 250,000 annual sales claim being wildly optimistic (to put it very delicately). As the flop of the F-150 Lightning demonstrated, there is simply not a market for electric utes, whether they look like a traditional ute or something created by the work experience kid after a lot of caffeine. Where Musk and the rest of Tesla management thought they’d find 250,000 people who wanted to look like they just drove out of a 1990s computer game remains a mystery to equal the lost city of Atlantis. Electric utes may seem like a good idea, but their time has simply not come year, but certainly the Cybertruck is not what people want.

With the first quarter of this century already over, we take a look back at the biggest mistakes made by car makers in Australia over the past 25 years.

Ford Australia has axed so many of its cars over the past two years that it almost has nothing left on sale. It’s just lucky that one of the few cars left that it does sell — the Ranger ute —  does so in enormous numbers.  So what’s missing from Ford’s line-up? A lot. Here are the cars we think Ford really needs in Australia right now. Ford lacks a rival, to not just to hardcore four-wheel drives like the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol, but to more domesticated Aussie family favourites such as the Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe. Yes, the Ford Everest seats seven and can go off-road with the best of them, but a more plush and comfortable suburban cruiser would fit nicely in the line-up. Now this might hurt a little bit and I apologise in advance, but in South Africa you can buy a Ford Territory. I know, what the Ford!? So, the South African Ford Territory is made in China and sold in other countries but it’s made in right-hand drive, which means there’s no reason why we can’t have it here. This new Territory isn’t as big as the Santa Fe at 4.63m long so it’s not really a large SUV but still, what a shame. What Australia really needs is a Ford Explorer, as in the petrol-powered version form the United States, not the UK electric version. The US Explorer is a a five-metre long seven seater, while the UK version is 4.4m and smaller than an Escape. Nope, bigger is better in this case and while the Explorer is currently only made in left hand drive, there is a chance a right hand drive might get the green light for the next-gen model. Ford axing the Escape is the car company equivalent to throwing away your only pair of pants just because you don’t like the colour of them. OK, that’s a terrible analogy but the point is mid-sized SUVs are the bread and butter of car brands and they sell all year long in large numbers and they’re kind of an essential item to car manufacturers.  Ford axed the Escape because it didn’t sell enough of them. But it could easily bring back the Escape because it’s sold in the right-hand drive in the UK. Ford should seriously consider it, the mid-sized SUV segment is increasing in size at 19.6 per cent market share and Ford’s not able to join in the spoils. Toyota has the RAV4, Kia has the Sportage, Nissan has the X-Trail and Ford has nothing. No pants to wear at all. If there’s something Australians love almost as much as mid-sized SUVs it’s a small SUV. We’re talking the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS. And Ford did have the Puma, but axed it in 2024 just four years after it arrived. The Puma was a high-quality feeling and premium looking SUV, but it was overpriced compared to its rivals and so sales struggled. People want premium looking at budget prices apparently. The Puma is sold in the UK as a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, so bringing it to Australia wouldn’t require anything other than a trip on a boat from Romania where they’re made. So there you are, Ford has pretty much all the cars it needs in right-hand drive to take the fight to rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla Cross, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe. Will we see the Territory again? Will Aussies be OK with a Chinese made Territory? Given the the shift in attitudes and growing maturity towards Chinese brands and their rapid take-up there's no reason they wouldn't be. Sure bringing back the Territory nameplate, plus the Puma and Escape could be a risk for Ford, but would it be as big a risk as having all your eggs in the Ranger basket as it does now?

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.

Here are our top 10 cars released in the first 25 years of this century.

Australia's greatest car - and our only-ever SUV - turns 20. Here are the life and times of the Ford Territory.

Some carmakers have some very conspicuous gaps in their product portfolios. There’s no rhyme or reason why, and no consistency across brands. Just the glaring holes that would surely make their lives – and not to mention their associated dealers – happier if filled with the right models. Here are the main offenders.

You probably know Ford’s Territory nameplate lives on, the most recent compact SUV version developed in China for the domestic market, with significant input from the Ford Australia design team in Broadmeadows.

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.