Ford confirms final car is a Falcon

The decision has been made. A Falcon and not a Territory will be the last car to roll from the Ford Australia assembly line at Broadmeadows on October 7.

But what model Falcon and what happens to it afterwards are details that are still be finalised.

Ford Australia president Graeme Whickman confirmed the decision to go with Falcon at this week's launch of the Mustang, which will replace Falcon as the performance hero in the brand's local line-up.

Only weeks ago Whickman had said that the decision on whether to go with Falcon or Territory was still being debated internally. But no longer, it seems.

"Our preference would be a Falcon and you can quote me on that," declared Whickman. "My expectation is that it will be a Falcon, given its history and that we are having a celebration.

"It's not a wake, it's a celebration," he emphasised.

The first Australian-built Falcon rolled out of Broadmeadows in 1960. The nameplate will have been built without interruption for the next 56 years, but that ends in October.

Territory production began in 2004. The nameplate is also tipped to live on when the global Edge model replaces it toward the end of 2017.

Ford's closure of Broadmeadows and its Geelong engine plant will be followed within 12 months by Toyota and Holden exiting, ending major automotive manufacture in Australia. All up, by the time it closes its local plants, Ford will have been building vehicles in Australia for more than 91 years.

Whickman said many of the details of the closing day, including the spec of the final Falcon and what would happen to it after it was built were still to be decided.

"We are actually going through a planning phase at the moment," he confirmed. "It's an inside out planning phase and the reason I say that is we are actually going to retire the brand with dignity and respect and that starts with our employees.

"Then it goes out from there in concentric circles and ends up with customers.

"But what time of day on the seventh, whose invited, what vehicle, all that sort of stuff is what's going on at the moment. All that will be decided in the next couple of weeks.

Whickman said the planning for the end of manufacturing extended to more than the assembly line ceremony.

"We have as an example probably 30 or 40 historic vehicles at the moment. We have a number of our models sitting in important parts of our factory at the moment.

"We have important documents and important memorabilia and we are working on how we are going to archive that. How do you make sure you preserve the important documents?

"We have a global archive that is temperature controlled and staffed properly, some of that might go there. With some of the vehicles it might or might not be a good idea that they get into an environment where everybody can enjoy them and not just a collector."

Whickman stressed the process would pay due respect to the manufacturers' heritage and employees.

"We want to retire with a bit of dignity and grace," he said.

"We are not going to do anything silly, we want to do it with a bit of grace."