FG Falcon: Exports will be studied

Bill Osborne, Ford Australia's new President, has come from Canada and has been in the country a matter of weeks.

He could be forgiven for not being intimately familiar with Ford's local product range. He is, after all, a man on a pretty steep learning curve.

But, in accordance with Ford's PR dictates, he did the right thing at the FG Falcon 'Showcase event'; spoke nicely of the product and told the journalists how he had instructed his local engineering team to consider it "one of the great sedans of the world", not just another locally manufactured large car.

To the journalists, he described the new Falcon as "a success already, with what we accomplished from an engineering standpoint".

He did, however, also express his disappointment that the new Falcon had not been engineered for left-hand drive.

"I think it's a vehicle that has application around the world, in a number of markets, so yes, quite frankly, I am disappointed that we don't have a left-hand drive car", he said during the Q&A after his presentation.

And the reason the FG model wasn't engineered for LHD? Not enough money in the kitty, basically. Ford, seemingly a company left with only painted-into-a-corner options ahead of it, had the choice of redeveloping the inline six or engineering the Falcon for left-hand drive markets.

If, in hindsight, it seems like poor judgement to have revised the engine when the Geelong plant building it will close in 2010, consider this: that decision -- the plant closure -- was not set in concrete at the time Ford had to choose which way to go with the Falcon: upgraded engine or LHD market potential.

Russell Christophers, Director, Falcon Vehicle for Ford Australia, argues that with the Australian dollar at its present high rate of exchange against the US dollar, the export business is not necessarily as profitable currently as pundits suggest.

Christophers believes the right decision was made, saying: "We would have [moved forward with the development of the I6 engine] in any case, even though the decision [to close the Geelong engine plant] hadn't been made, because it's about delivering to the customer what the customer wants -- and the customer was chasing more performance and more fuel economy".

"And if you want to be competitive in the marketplace, they're two areas where you want to have leadership, so we could make business sense out of doing the work we've done on the engine in this program, even though the V6 is coming on."

So in Christophers' view, it was the right decision to re-work the sixes for FG -- but it was also the right choice to adopt the Cyclone V6 for 2010.

"We'll be taking a V6 engine that's made in a capacity of a million a year and then you're amortising the level of engineering over that volume and all of a sudden the amortised cost of engineering has come down.

"You can [then] spend money in other ways, giving back added value to the customer."

But the savings to be spent on the customer, even though the FG is an example of a car that offers much in the way of value-added technology and engineering, won't be apparent until Ford can start to budget on developing a car that won't cost the earth for engine development -- a revised Orion platform car with the V6 in 2010.

Furthermore, Christophers says: "It would be possible to develop a left-hand drive version of this platform, if that was the question", but tempers that with the observation that "the robustness of the business case for exports right now in Australia is really problematic".

What this may mean is that the money saved on engine development for the car arriving in 2010 may be spent on LHD re-engineering. That, of course, doesn't necessarily mean LHD Falcons would be built at Broadmeadows, but if it happens, at least some of the intellectual capital could find its way overseas.

And, we think, there's a new man in the corner who might be pushing for all that to happen.

"You know, I have an engineering background, so I've driven over 5000 cars in my career, and this vehicle compares with the best sedans in the world", Bill Osborne said.

So the new boss at Ford Australia has nailed his colours to the mast. 

Nothing may come of the talk of an export program, particular with the Aussie dollar hovering around 90 cents US, but we'll bet dollars to donuts a global RWD program is front and centre on the agenda for future product development at Ford Australia.

NEW FALCON: The FG model range - including photo galleries (more here)
NEW FALCON: Engineering boss says FG is all-new (more here)
NEW FALCON: more on Engines (more here)
NEW FALCON: more on Packaging (more here)
NEW FALCON: more on Refinement (more here)
NEW FALCON: more on Dynamics (more here)
NEW FALCON: more on Controls (more here)

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