Falcon future 'safe' -- for now

The Ford Falcon sedan and ute and the Territory softroader are here to stay for at least the next five years -- and a decision on whether they will continue to be manufactured locally beyond 2015 won't be made for another 18 months.

That's the upshot of several individual interviews conducted by the Carsales Network on the opening day of the Detroit motor show overnight, including the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, William Clay Ford, CEO Alan Mulally, Ford's Asia-Pacific boss Joe Hinrichs and the boss of Ford Australia Marin Burela.

The senior Ford executives found themselves defending the future of the Falcon following the lowest Falcon sales in 49 years in 2009.

Mulally cast a shadow over the Falcon when he said: "People who make one vehicle for one country, a different vehicle, those days are gone," he said.

When asked what this meant for the Falcon sedan and ute and Territory softroader, which are unique in the Ford world, he said: "We've had a very good business in Australia and we believe in the Falcon. It's a great car and we have no plans to change anything right now. I might go ahead and add that we still believe in rear-wheel-drive cars and we'll continue to look for opportunities for rear-wheel-drive. I would also like to add we are going to be there in Australia with more and more (imported) products."

When asked if there was an intention to continue manufacturing Ford vehicles in Australia beyond the end of the current lifecycle -- 2015 -- Mulally told the Carsales Network "next question".

Next up was William Clay Ford. When asked about the future of manufacturing vehicles in Australia, he said: "Ford Australia has always been an important part of Ford globally and we haven't announced anything but we'll tell you soon."

Ford was the weakest of the three local car makers last year. Toyota produced 128,000 vehicles, the majority of which were exported, Holden built 66,000 vehicles after its export markets collapsed, while Ford built approximately 55,000 vehicles, of which 31,000 were Falcon sedans and wagons.

Despite the low figures, Ford's recently appointed Asia Pacific boss Joe Hinrichs, who has a manufacturing background, says Ford Australia's output of 55,000 cars a year is sustainable and pointed out that Ford Australia turned a profit in the last quarter of 2009.

"We have been moving towards getting more scale in our manufacturing facilities worldwide, but we also have several facilities in the Asia Pacific region and other parts of the world that produce 55,000 vehicles annually or less," he said.

In regards to the future of Ford Australia's Broadmeadows plant he said: "We have time to figure that out."

Ford Australia boss Marin Burela said that the company would not have invested $230 million on engineering and development if it was not here to stay.

"It's business as usual for Falcon," he told the Carsales Network. "We will continue to push and grow the Falcon's market share and provide Australians with the motoring needs they are looking for.

"We gained momentum in 2009 and we will build on that momentum in 2010. In 2010 we'll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Falcon and we plan to have a great year."

He pointed out that the Falcon sedan outsold the Commodore sedan on two individual months in 2009 (October and November) and increased its market share from 26 per cent to 35 per cent year to year.

He said Ford Australia's current output was sustainable "but we believe we will grow from here".

"We have worked very hard in the last 18 months to continue to improve and streamline our manufacturing operations. And have a range of updates coming over the next 18 months that will boost sales and therefore production."

In the middle of this year Ford Australia will introduce an all-new 5.0-litre V8 in the performance Falcon range and by the end of the year will introduce a liquid injection LPG six-cylinder Falcon.

Early next year Ford will introduce a heavily revised Territory which will coincide with the arrival of a new turbodiesel engine for the softroader, and in the second half of 2010, Ford will introduce the four-cylinder turbocharged Falcon.

At the show there was speculation that manufacturing of the Falcon and Territory models were timed to be phased out together in 2015 -- when both models would be due for replacement.

What seems likely is that, beyond 2015, Ford Australia may adopt an as yet unnamed global rear-drive and all-wheel-drive architecture for its large sedan and mid-sized softroader, and then tailor them to suit local tastes.

There has been speculation the Falcon could switch from rear-drive to front-drive because Ford's large car in North America, the Taurus, is front-drive. And Ford has not announced what its future plans are for its rear-drive cars: namely the Mustang and the Falcon.

For most everyday motorists, which wheels power the car is of little consequence. But the debate is making headlines in the specialist motoring press because it matters a lot to performance-car enthusiasts: rear-drive is a more traditional method of delivering power, whereas the more efficient front-drive layout is generally the domain of commuter cars.

Meanwhile, the Falcon wagon, which was due to be phased out eight years ago when the Territory went on sale, is likely to go out of production by the middle of 2010 when new emissions regulations come into effect. The cost of updating the aging wagon to meet the new regulations would be prohibitively expensive given the relatively low sales.

The Falcon ute, almost unique in the car world let alone the Ford world, is unlikely to survive beyond this generation. According to Ford Australia sources, it only just scraped through the approval process a few years ago but the market for car-derived utes has been well and truly overtaken by imported body-on-frame utes in recent years.

Given that Ford Australia is the engineering home for the next generation Ford Ranger, the new model due in 2012 will likely be safer than body-on-frame utes typically have been for the past decade and deliver car-like driving qualities, therefore potentially making it a worthy replacement for the Falcon ute. The new Ranger, however, will likely be built offshore in a low cost country such as Thailand or India for a global market.

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