Ford Australia boss Marin Burela says he has a vision to continue with the Falcon ute with the next generation model due in late 2015. This is a turnaround from comments made by senior Ford Australia executives at the launch of the FG Falcon ute last year.
At the time some officials expressed doubt about the future of the Falcon ute beyond the current model cycle, with one insider claiming that if the business study were done for Falcon ute today, it would not be deemed viable because the market had become dominated by imported body-on-frame utes.
The company's product planners were of the view that Falcon ute drivers would substitute their vehicles with the next generation of the Ford Ranger, which is being designed and engineered locally, although to be built overseas.
But Burela says he wants to continue to build a ute version of the future Falcon.
"Falcon ute drivers love their utes," Burela told the Carsales Network. "And I think there are very clearly two types of ute buyers. I don't think you can say one size fits all. I'm of the view that buyers of car-derived utes have different tastes than drivers of [imported body-on-frame] utes. So I certainly wouldn't want to walk away from the Falcon ute market."
The local Ford boss' enthusiasm for a Falcon ute beyond 2015 could also be seen as a positive sign for lovers of rear-drive sedans given that both vehicles would likely share their underpinnings.
And Ford, which has a proud reputation as a builder of workhorse vehicles, is not likely to offer a front-drive one-tonne ute.
"We'd be laughed off the worksite," said Burela.
About 80 per cent of Falcon utes are workhorse models, he said, the remainder are the sporty XR show ponies.
But Burela will have a tough fight internally to back the case for a Falcon ute. After decades of dominance of the car-derived utes from Holden and Ford, Toyota's Hilux finally knocked off the locally-made pair in the 4x2 ute segment in 2006, and has maintained that lead ever since. Falcon and Commodore are still strong sales contenders in that class, ranked second and third respectively.
The Ford and Holden utes have been locked in a tight battle so far this year, with just 33 sales separating the two in the first five months of the year.
The Falcon has the edge on the Commodore (4269 versus 4246 according to VFACTS figures) but both models have suffered a sales slump. Falcon ute sales are down 14 per cent and Commodore ute sales are down by 30 per cent. By this time last year more than 6100 Commodore utes had been sold.
Toyota's Hilux is still the 4x2 ute sales leader, with a massive 23.5 per cent share of the market, even though its sales have dropped by 24 per cent.
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